S. E. (Susan Eloise) Hinton
Activity Sheet

Biography from Penguin Putman Publishers
Susan Eloise Hinton's career as an author began while she was still a student at Will Rogers High School in Tulsa. Disturbed by the divisions among her schoolmates into two groups, the Greasers and the Socs, Hinton wrote The Outsiders, an honest, sometimes shocking novel told from the point of view of an orphaned 14-year-old Greaser named Ponyboy Curtis. Since her narrator was male, it was decided that Hinton use only her first initials so as not to put off boys who would not normally read books written by women.
The Outsiders was published during Hinton's freshman year at the University of Tulsa, and it was an immediate sensation. Today, with more than eight million copies in print, the book is the second best-selling young adult book in publishing history, and one of the most hauntingly powerful views into the thoughts and feelings of teenagers. The book was also made into a film, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and featuring such future stars as Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, and Tom Cruise. She earned a B.S. degree at the University of Tulsa in 1970.
Her other early books are That Was Then, This Is Now, Rumble Fish, Tex and Taming the Star Runner. In recent years, Hinton has focused on a younger audience, writing the highly successful picture book, Big David, Little David, and the chapter book, The Puppy Sister.
In a tribute to Hinton's distinguished career, the American Library Association and School Library Journal bestowed upon her their first annual Margaret A. Edwards Award, which honors authors whose "book or books, over a period of time, have been accepted by young people as an authentic voice that continues to illuminate their experiences and emotions, giving insight into their lives." Hinton is also the recipient of the Oklahoma Center for the Book's Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Outsiders
Book Description from amazon.com
According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers--until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser. This classic, written by S. E. Hinton when she was 16 years old, is as profound today as it was when it was first published in 1967.

Official S. E. Hinton Website
http://www.sehinton.com/

Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers Biography
http://poetsandwriters.okstate.edu/halloffame/sehinton.html

Young Adult Novels of S. E. Hinton at Random House
http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/authors/sehi.html

Web English Teacher Page on Hinton
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/hinton.html