Kids of Appetite – David Arnold

Kids of Appetite
David Arnold
September 20, 2016
Viking Books for Young Readers

I’ll preface this review with a disclaimer that The Outsiders is my favorite book of all time. At 13, it was the first book I ever finished and immediately went back and reread cover to cover. I’ve read it upwards of 20 times, and watch the film at least once a year, crying from the moment Ponyboy steps out of the movie theatre until he steps back out again. (Just to put things in perspective, I also cry from beginning to end of The Muppet Movie and the majority of The Goonies – if you can figure that one out please let me and my therapist know. We’re both really curious.)  That being said, I’m always wary when authors use Hinton’s book, as it has a tendency to be used as a kind of shortcut for character development. In the same way that a “reader-girl” is shorthand for moral goodness, a reference to The Outsiders is often used as a quick way of understanding that character as a misunderstood misfit or loner.