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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSFourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis lives on the East Side of a city in Oklahoma with his two older brothers, Darry and Sodapop, after their parents were killed in a car accident. He belongs to a group of working-class kids called greasers, and their world is defined by constant tension with the Socs, the wealthy West-siders who attack greasers for sport. When Ponyboy is jumped by a carload of Socs on his way home from a movie, his gang rushes to his rescue, but the threat doesn't go away. A night at the drive-in leads to an unexpected friendship with two Soc girls, and when the girls' boyfriends track Ponyboy and his closest friend Johnny down in a dark park late at night, a violent confrontation changes everything.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Outsiders
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about The Outsiders. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book do the kids on the East Side call themselves greasers and the rich West Side kids Socs?
✓ Answer
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Ponyboy lays out the geography of the conflict in chapter one. The whole novel turns on the social class divide between the rough East Side kids in leather jackets and the wealthy West Side teens with Mustangs and madras.
- First half
In what book do two fugitive boys cut their hair and bleach the narrator's blond to disguise themselves?
✓ Answer
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Johnny sawing off Ponyboy's hair with his switchblade is a painful moment because their long greased hair was their trademark and pride. The makeover marks how much they've already lost.
- First half
In what book do two fugitive boys run back into a burning country church to save trapped schoolchildren?
✓ Answer
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
When the boys return from the Dairy Queen, the church is on fire with kids from a school picnic trapped inside. Ponyboy and Johnny climb through a window to pull them to safety, turning the hood and the murderer into heroes.
- Second half
In what book does a Soc in a blue Mustang confess to a greaser that he is sick of fighting?
✓ Answer
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Randy Adderson pulls up at the Tasty Freeze and asks Ponyboy to sit in his Mustang. He explains he will not show up at the rumble because Bob's death broke him and he is tired of the violence.
- Second half
In what book do greasers and a gang from another suburb fight rich boys in a rumble under a streetlight?
✓ Answer
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
The big rumble takes place in the vacant lot with Tim Shepard's gang and the Brumly boys joining the greasers, twenty against twenty-two. Darry steps into the circle of light and the fight begins when Paul throws the first punch.
- Near the end
In what book does a sick boy stare at a yearbook photo of the rich kid he believes he killed?
✓ Answer
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
While stuck in bed, Ponyboy flips through Soda's old yearbook and recognizes Bob Sheldon's photo. He wonders for the first time what Bob was really like and tries to see the human being he and Johnny killed.
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