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S. E. Hinton, author portrait
Photo:Tony Awards·CC BY 3.0·
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S. E. Hinton

American
Born 1948
Susan Eloise Hinton is an American writer best known for her young-adult novels (YA) set in Oklahoma, especially The Outsiders (1967), which she wrote during high school. Hinton is credited with introducing the YA genre. She graduated from the University of Tulsa.
On LuvemBooks, we've reviewed The Outsiders.
1
Books Reviewed
In order

S. E. Hinton books in order

13 books; 1 reviewed on LuvemBooks. Dates and covers from Amazon.

  1. That Was Then, This Is Now cover
    1971
    That Was Then, This Is Now
    Amazon ↗
  2. The Outsiders cover
    1982
    The Outsiders
    Our review →
  3. Taming the Star Runner cover
    1988
    Taming the Star Runner
    Amazon ↗
  4. Rumble Fish cover
    1989
    Rumble Fish
    Amazon ↗
  5. Tex cover
    1989
    Tex
    Amazon ↗
  6. Big David, Little David cover
    1995
    Big David, Little David
    Amazon ↗
  7. The Puppy Sister cover
    1995
    The Puppy Sister
    Amazon ↗
  8. Hawkes Harbor cover
    2004
    Hawkes Harbor
    Amazon ↗
  9. The Outsiders Hardcover educational edition cover
    2007
    The Outsiders Hardcover educational edition
    Amazon ↗
  10. Some of Tim's Stories cover
    2007
    Some of Tim's Stories
    Amazon ↗
  11. S. E. Hinton's The Puppy Sister cover
    2010
    S. E. Hinton's The Puppy Sister
    Amazon ↗
  12. Tex by Hinton, S.E. Paperback cover
    2013
    Tex by Hinton, S.E. Paperback
    Amazon ↗
  13. The Outsiders 50th Anniversary Edition cover
    2016
    The Outsiders 50th Anniversary Edition
    Amazon ↗
Cover of The Outsiders
The Outsiders

4.7/5

reader rating · 41,932 ratings

First published in 1967 by Viking Press, S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel that redefined what young adult fiction could be — raw, class-conscious, and told entirely from the inside of a teenage world that adult literature had largely ignored. Narrated by fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis, a working-class greaser navigating gang rivalry, loyalty, and loss in an unnamed Oklahoma city, the novel remains a standard-bearer of the YA genre and a fixture on school curricula across the United States. Critics has credited it with transforming young adult fiction "from a genre mostly about prom queens, football players and high school crushes to one that portrayed a darker, truer world."

Reviewed Feb 12, 2026

Ask LuvemBooks about S. E. Hinton

S. E. Hinton is an American writer who achieved literary prominence as a teenager, publishing The Outsiders in 1967 while still in high school. Her novel captures the friction between social classes in 1960s Oklahoma through the eyes of working-class teenage protagonists, establishing her as a foundational voice in young-adult fiction that treats adolescent experience with genuine emotional weight.
Where should I start?
Start with The Outsiders. It's Hinton's defining work and the best entry point to her voice—a novel about teenage class conflict and belonging that reads with both immediacy and depth. With a reader rating of 4.7/5, it remains as compelling now as when it was first published.
What's their writing style?
Hinton writes in a direct, accessible voice that never condescends to her teenage narrators. Her prose is lean and observational, letting dialogue and action carry emotional weight rather than relying on exposition. She writes with the specificity of someone who understands adolescent life from the inside—her characters' struggles over status, loyalty, and identity feel earned rather than constructed.
Books we've reviewed
We have reviewed one novel by S. E. Hinton: The Outsiders (1967), her landmark debut about teenage class conflict and brotherhood in Oklahoma.
What genre do they write?
Hinton writes young-adult fiction, a genre she helped pioneer. Her work blends coming-of-age narrative with social realism, treating teenage protagonists with the complexity and seriousness typically reserved for adult literary fiction.
Have her books been adapted?
The Outsiders was adapted into a major motion picture in 1983 directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, and Tom Cruise. The film brought Hinton's story to an even wider audience and is itself considered a classic of 1980s cinema.
Who is S. E. Hinton?
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Authors Like S. E. Hinton
Stephen Chbosky

Stephen Chbosky

Fiction
Young Adult
Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower shares S. E. Hinton’s focus on a teenage boy processing grief, loyalty, found family, and adolescent violence.
1 book reviewed
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Angie Thomas

Angie Thomas

Young Adult
Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give similarly follows a teenager caught between two contrasting worlds who must navigate community violence and personal identity.
1 book reviewed
The Hate U Give
Kathleen Glasgow

Kathleen Glasgow

Fiction
Young Adult
Kathleen Glasgow’s Girl in Pieces shares the raw honesty of Hinton’s work while centering on a homeless teenage girl rebuilding herself.
2 books reviewed
Girl in Pieces
The Glass Girl
Markus Zusak

Markus Zusak

Fiction
Markus Zusak's The Book Thief follows a young narrator on the margins of catastrophic violence, similarly exploring how loyalty endures through hardship.
1 book reviewed
The Book Thief
Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson

Fiction
Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak shares S. E. Hinton's focus on young adult fiction, addressing difficult teenage realities through a narrator confronting trauma.
1 book reviewed
Speak
Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo

Fiction
Young Adult

Leigh Bardugo is an Israeli-American author of young adult and fantasy fiction.

2 books reviewed
Six of Crows
Shadow and Bone