The Outsiders Is Still “In” - Why This Old Novel Is So Popular with Teens - And Some Activities Students Enjoy

Oct 1, 2026

A classroom-based reflection explains why S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders remains compelling to eighth-grade students, despite being written over three decades earlier. Student comments emphasize enduring themes of identity, belonging, conflict between peer groups, and realistic portrayals of everyday struggles. The essay also describes engaging instructional activities, including pairing readings from Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches with discussion prompts and using the Herber Exercise to strengthen vocabulary, literary discussion, reading comprehension, and writing improvement.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

The Outsiders Is Still “In”

Why This Old Novel Is So Popular with Teens,and Some Activities Students Enjoy

Seeing Stars: Haves and Have-nots in Dr. Suess and The Outsiders

The Herber Exercise: Using Students' Experiences to Enhance Reading Comprehension

The Herber Exercise Step-By-Step (Simmons and Palmer)

What is it about The Outsiders that makes it such a ubiq-uitous hit?I suggested to my colleague,Martha Story,thatwe interview students to find out.I arrived at her eighthgrade classroom at Swift Creek Middle School in Tallahas-see,Florida,ready to do some activities that prompted dis-cussion and opinion-forming.At the end of the second day,Iasked THE question:“Why is The Outsiders so popular withteens today,even though it was written over 30 years ago?” Good reading,realistic,current and kid-oriented are therecurrent remarks,but the eighth-graders say it much betterthan I can.Here are a few comments: "I think The Outsiders is a storythat is still alive and everyoneprefers it because it goes backto how things were and you cancompare how things are now.The only difference I see ispeople don't call themselvesSocs and Greasers anymore,butthere are groups who still ight!”—Ramya "It deals with kids our age.It deals with problems we face.We get to hear about how timehas changed."-Kelly I think the reason The Outsiders is so popular today is be-cause no matter how old the book is,it tells it the way it is.There's problems everywhere,with everyone.Nobody getsall the breaks.The author tells about how life is all around.”-Lori “The Outsiders let me escape from the real world and it in-forms me what life was like in the late 50's and early 60's.”—Sean “Because the conflict between kids today is the same in manyways as it was in the past.”—Russell "Because it still deals with situations that we deal with today.Like how Greasers and Socs have their own groups and theydon't really like each other.We still have groups like that.”—Tiffany "I think that this book is still popular because it is a goodstory.…”—Brooke # The Outsiders is Still“In”: Why This Old Novel Is So Popular withTeens,and Some Activities Students Enjoy Lauren Groot with Martha Story ity.”-Justin It seems students find this book a validation of what theysee in their own lives and appreci-It seems students find this book aate reading about the struggle forindividual identity while still want-validation of what they see in theiring to belong to a group.Althoughown lives and appreciate readingPonyboy deserts gang life after re-alizing the“waste of human po-about the struggle for individualtential resulting from delinquencyidentity while still wanting to belongand violence,”the non-didactictone of this novel keeps the stu-to a group.dents tuned in and reading(DeMarr 153).When the studentsarrive to English/Language Arts class excited about this novel,usually they simply want toREAD The Outsiders without interruption!Nevertheless,with such student engagement,there are many opportunitiesfor vocabulary enrichment,literary discussions,reading gainsand writing improvement. Seeing Stars:Haves and Have-notsin Dr.Suess and The Outsiders I have never had students object to being read to,so I readMartha's class a story as an introductory activity.Due to therecent big-screen popularity of Dr.Suess's The Grinch ThatStole Christmas,I thought that reading a Dr.Suess story tothe Swift Creek students would be fun and provide a bit ofbonding.I chose The Sneetches because of its obvious tie-inwith The Outsiders.I video-taped the students'reactionswhile I read this story(only 3 had heard of it before)andafter watching the video,I realized that every student wastransfixed.After the story,I asked if the students saw anycorrelation between The Sneetches and The Outsiders. Predictably,the students mentioned how Ponyboy's gang “Why I like the book The Outsiders is because it is a goodstory about how a group of kids can survive without anygrown-ups.”-Lauren "The suspense and meaning of the book gives it its popular- "I think The Outsiders is still popular because the book is sorealistic.There are groups today who are just like that.Westill have our groups and detest others.Nothing has changed,really.”—Stacey Winter 2002 was like the Sneetches without stars;the S

FAQs

Why do eighth-grade students say The Outsiders is still popular today?

Students say it feels realistic and “still alive,” and that the conflicts and social groups resemble problems they recognize now. They also value how it addresses identity and belonging.

How does the author use The Sneetches to connect with The Outsiders?

The author reads a Dr. Seuss story to the class and asks students to identify correlations between the two works. The discussion extends to ideas of being “in” or “on the outside” and how sameness or difference affects social belonging.

What is the Herber Exercise and how is it used in class?

The author introduces the Herber Exercise as a way to draw on students’ lived experiences to fuel discussions about vocabulary and themes. It guides students through reading, selecting key words from a main-idea sentence, and then collaborating in small groups.

Oct 1, 2026

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