The next YA novel you should read just turned 50 and it's still solid gold

If you would like to address S.E. Hinton, author of The Outsiders, you may call her one thing: "your majesty."

Okay, maybe Hinton is joking — "Introduce me as S.E. Hinton first and then call me Susie," she clarifies while laughing.

But perhaps the royal title is more fitting than Hinton lets on.

This week Hinton is celebrating the 50th anniversary (an honor not many authors are alive to see) of The Outsiders. The book published when Hinton was only 17 years old, and according to Hinton, since its launch in 1967, the novel has never gone out of print and the sold more copies in 2016 than it ever has.

Your majesty indeed.

The Outsiders is tale about social class warfare in high school between two groups: the rich and jocky Socs and the poor but rebellious Greasers. The novel follows Ponyboy Curtis, a 14-year-old Greaser who doesn't quite fit in. When Ponyboy's friend Johnny accidentally kills a Soc while defending Ponyboy, the war between the Socs and the Greasers escalate in a way that could change Ponyboy's life forever.

What many may not realize, though, is that the novel didn't start out as an investigation into class. It started as an act of revenge.

"One day when I friend of mine got beat up on his way home from school, I got mad and began a short story about a boy who gets beat up on his way to the movies," says Hinton. "That turned out to be the opening of The Outsiders as a novel."

But it's not the fighting that has captured readers for half a century. It's the novel's heart. Ponyboy, his earnest yearning to escape how others perceive him (young, poor, Greaser), and his quest to "stay gold" explores a fatalist angst many teenagers, past and present, experience.

"I'm getting the same type of letters [after 50 years]: 'I didn't know anybody else felt like this,'" says Hinton.

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This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Hinton's classic novel. Listen above and join us as we chat about 50 years of The Outsiders.

And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

• S.E. Hinton has a host of recommendations Lost City of Z by David Grann (and the recent movie adaptation starring Robert Pattinson and Charlie Hunan, as well), The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across The Ancient World by Andrienne Mayor, and The Dry by Jane Harper. She also recommends rereading Jane Austen. "I reread her novels every year, and I always find some new trick she has pulled.

• Aliza recommends journalist Lauren Duca's Teen Vogue column 'Thigh-high Politics.' You can check out her latest story here. "She goes through big things from the week in a way that I personally find funny and engaging. It helps narrow what people should be paying attention to."

• Peter recommends rewatching the anime Trigun. "It's really wonderful. It starts off silly but it gets really deep, in its own. I love the characters and I love the environment and I love the story it wants to tell.

• MJ recommends listening to Nancy, WNYC's new LGBTQ podcast. "It is so damn good ... It's a really, really great, empathetic, moving podcast."

Next week we are reading Congressman John Lewis' graphic novel March: Vol 1. We hope you'll join us.

And if you're looking for even more book news, don't forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter.