This month's Kitchen Table pick is The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, for teens, read on your own and talked about over something to eat. Page count pending. Written by a teenager, still the book that gets a teenager talking about loyalty and class.
June 2026 pick. Last updated 19 August 2026.
Why this one
It is short, it moves, and it takes teenagers seriously, which is rarer than it should be. The class anger in it still reads true, and the brothers at the centre give you an honest way into a conversation about who is looking after whom in your own house.
Hinton was sixteen when she wrote it, and your teenager can tell. That is exactly why they will talk about it.
Tonight's question
Who in this book is actually gold, and what does staying gold cost?
Open the kid's page in big type
The pace planner
Work out when you finish
Set your start date and your honest nightly minutes. It saves in this browser only.
- Per night
- 12 pages
- Per week
- 84 pages
- You finish
- Saturday, October 1025 nights, about 4 weeks
We have not verified a page count for this edition, so the planner starts from your own copy. Change the number to match the book in your hand.
How long will it take at twenty minutes a night?
Page count pending for the edition we link, so we are not guessing the number of nights. at a modest pace, and the sheet's first question never depends on the ending. The twenty minutes a night system.
The discussion sheet
Dad's Book Club
Discussion sheet
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
The Kitchen Table. June 2026.
If you only ask one
Who in this book is actually gold, and what does staying gold cost?
- Ponyboy says Socs and greasers are the same underneath. Do you buy that, or is it the thing he needs to believe?
- Darry is twenty and raising two brothers. What has he given up, and does Ponyboy see it?
- Johnny is the one everyone protects and the one who acts. Why do you think Hinton wrote him that way?
- Dally says to stay tough and Johnny says to stay gold. Which advice would you follow this year?
- The book was written by a sixteen-year-old. What does it get right that adult books about teenagers usually miss?
- Where does the loyalty in this group turn from a good thing into a trap?
- Cherry crosses between the two groups and pays for it. What does the book say about who is allowed to move?
- Is there anyone in this story an adult could have saved? Which adult, and when?
- Ponyboy writes it all down as a school assignment. Why does telling it help him?
dadsbookclub.com · June 2026
If you liked this
The Road
Cormac McCarthy · The Shelf
The same month on the shelf, sized for you. The starkest father-and-son book there is. Short, heavy, unforgettable.
What to read after it
Rumble Fish by S. E. Hinton
For the teen who wanted more Hinton and a stranger older brother.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
For the teen who came for the class anger and the humour.
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