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Why ‘The Outsiders’ Lives On: A Teenage Novel Turns 50

The widely read novel was initially published back in 1967, when the author was only 18. The New York Times featured an article highlighting the book:

Since “The Outsiders” was first published in 1967, over 15 million copies have been sold. It is a constant on middle-school and high-school reading lists and has been translated into 30 languages. Fanfiction.net counts 8,100 stories based on the book. The hashtag #staygold, which is inspired by a Robert Frost poem that appears in the book, is attached to more than 300,000 Instagram posts. Search the internet for “stay gold” and you’ll find both the name of a cafe on the Jersey Shore and a Swedish rock band’s debut album. Ms. Hinton fields daily questions on Twitter from fans who ask, “What do you think when people say ‘Stay golden’ instead of ‘Stay gold’?” (Answer: It makes her cringe.)
(The New York Times)


Read the full feature on The New York Times website here.

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