Talk:S. E. Hinton

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Little-known facts about S. E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders
Material from Little-known facts about S. E. Hinton novels

The Outsiders
 * Ponyboy's full name is Ponyboy Michael Curtis
 * Sodapop's full name is Sodapop Patrick Curtis
 * Darry's full name is Darrel Shayne Curtis, Jr.
 * The reason Darry has such a 'boring' name compared to his two brothers is because he is named after his father.
 * Two-Bit's real name is Keith Matthews
 * Sandy, Sodapop's girlfriend, who is only briefly mentioned in the book, leaves Soda to go live in Florida with her Grandmother.
 * Cherry's real name is Sherri Valance
 * Cherry and Marcia and some nurses are the only girls present in the entire book, others are mentioned but not seen.
 * Marcia is prononunced like Marsha

''all the above text contributed from IP 205.188.117.12, 14:31, 16 May 2004. Andrewa 05:34, 16 May 2004 (UTC)''

What is S.E. Hinton doing today?
uhh... maybe she's just living her own life, minding her own business, doing what she enjoys, living like a normal person?

From her website: "My hobby is horse-back riding; I've shown both jumping and dressage.

I read constantly, and occasionally take a class at the university not for credit - it's more fun when you don't have to take the tests!

A writer's life is not very exciting - usually you're alone in a room with your tools - paper, pen, imagination. (I usually write long-hand first, then put it on a computer.)

I walk the dog, ride my horse, wander the grocery store wondering what to cook for dinner.

So much for my glamourous life.

I have a great husband, a wonderful son; I won't invade their privacy by saying any more." Lonewuf 18:18, 5 October 2007 (UTC)


 * She wrote a really, really bad vampire novel recently. I'll try to find publication info for the article. Don't worry, I'll leave my opinion of the novel (absolutely atrocious) out of the article. thx1138 06:40, 14 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I did a quick google and found a review. [] Hawkes Harbor its called.--Xiahou 23:16, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
 * That is pretty cool 69.46.51.8 (talk) 19:40, 13 April 2023 (UTC)

Age?
It's impossible that somebody born in 1948 was 16 in 1967. --OliverTraldi 04:18, 24 May 2006 (UTC)


 * She was sixteen when she wrote it, she was older by the time it was published ( it can take years before a novel finishes editing, etc.) F-451 18:18, 5 August 2006 (UTC)


 * She was 16 when she wrote the majority of it during her sophomore/junior year (1964/1965), it was published in 1967, her first year of college. She was born in 1948.


 * Some other sources like the Encyclopædia Britannica Online state 1950. --Asdert 11:06, 31 May 2007 (UTC)


 * There's an interesting discussion of the question at Who2.com, "S.E. Hinton, Staying Gold (Plus Two Years)", that makes a convincing case for 1948, which simply makes more sense relative to established facts about her life (e.g. graduating from high school in 1966).-- Shelf Skewed  Talk  13:10, 31 May 2007 (UTC)


 * IMDB uses 1950. Infoplease uses 1950... and says "or 1949".sinneed (talk) 00:36, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
 * imdb has corrected itself to 1948: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0386023/bio Quanyinsdottir (talk) 10:25, 13 March 2010 (UTC)
 * others have updated to 1948 as well: http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/sehinton.html http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1948/july_22_1948_393083.html http://answers.encyclopedia.com/question/s-e-hinton-born-166548.html Quanyinsdottir (talk) 10:29, 13 March 2010 (UTC)


 * As this seems to be a source of many edits, I have added a source saying 1950. I added text mentioning the DoB dispute, but an IP objected.  I have reinstated the note as a comment in the code, and reinstated the reference killed by the IP as well.sinneed (talk) 22:26, 12 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Hinton was born in 1948. Go to http://www.ussearch.com/consumer/index.jsp (which gathers public info from driver licenses and tax records) and type in her married name Susan Inhofe. image cap: http://i43.tinypic.com/o6xjko.jpg clearly states age is 61. Quanyinsdottir (talk) 08:44, 13 March 2010 (UTC)
 * And please restore the comments, as there have been many wrangles over this.- Sinneed  09:30, 13 March 2010 (UTC)
 * http://movies.nytimes.com/person/32477/S-E-Hinton/biography says 1948, as well Quanyinsdottir (talk) 10:47, 13 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Three years later I replaced two long comments with "1948/1940 see Talk:S. E. Hinton". Here is the longer of those two comments (quote):
 * "Year varies from 1948 to 1950, but recent sources seem to stick to 1950. See body and talk page. Changed at 09/09/01 > Now almost all sources say 1948"
 * --P64 (talk) 23:58, 10 March 2013 (UTC)

P.S. Library of Congress authorities (LCCN in footer) quotes her thus, perhaps from A. Wilson (2002): "I began the first draft of The Outsiders when I was fifteen; nobody believes that, so I usually say sixteen; my editors say seventeen, just in case"

--P64 (talk) 00:40, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

Her Wikidata item currently has both dates (1948 and 1950) with many references for each, and the 1948 date "preferred". I believe this correctly represents the conclusions of this discussion. Cheers, Bovlb (talk) 19:03, 9 October 2019 (UTC)


 * A search of the Oklahoma State Department of Health Information at https://ok2explore.health.ok.gov/App/BirthSearch for Susan E Hinton returns the birth date of July 22, 1948. Kaltenmeyer (talk) 22:26, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

Ref improve
I am concerned that a great deal of this may be OR ... and some of it seems to be or to have been fiction. I axed a few things that were dubious, but there is a good bit of it. The article is vandalized so heavily I am very very doubtful. This author states that she is a very private person, so I am especially dubious of personal details here.sinneed (talk)


 * Found a 2005 NYT interview. Cited for some of the conflicting information.  It doesn't help with DoB...she refuses to say.  Still could be anywhere from 48 to 50.sinneed (talk) 05:49, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Recent addition, unsourced, cutting to here for discussion of possible inclusion
She continues to participate in the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in association with UCLA. In the 2009 festival, she will have a conversation with Jane Smiley.

Since the Times appears to be the sponsor, surely there would be a wp:RS? Cutting this to here to avoid losing the editor's work.sinneed (talk) 01:49, 14 April 2009 (UTC

Hawkes Harbor
OK - 'The Outsiders' is one of my all time favrite books, and I nearly worshipped S.E. Hinton when I started writing as a teenager. But somebody has to say something about "Hawkes Harbour". I like a good vampire story as much as the next guy, but reading this trash, and thinking this was written by S.E. Hinton. All I could think is WTF? (please pardon the language). Did she lose her mind? I don't want her to be trashed... but.. really? Is this the same author that gave us Ponyboy and Dally, and the greatest teen story ever?

Full name?
What is the objection to her full name in the 1st para? It seems to be in keeping with biographical articles in WP.- Sinneed  06:11, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

OR, weak sources, removal of tags, no edit summaries
A great deal of change was made to the article tonight. My initial reaction is to roll it all back, then see if there is any of the that should be kept. Hopefully the editor will join the discussion, fix some of the errors (restore tags, stick to wp:RS, etc.)- Sinneed  09:28, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

J.K. Rowling?
Maybe I'm being a little too critical about this, but why is there mention of J.K. Rowling using initials to pen her books in the opening paragraph of the article? The article is about Hinton, not Rowling, and unless someone can cite a source saying that Rowling was inspired by this author to use her initials to increase her credibility, then I strongly believe it should be removed. It seems a little irrelevant and is likely already stated elsewhere on Wikipedia; I do not see a valid reason why this trivial information needs to be placed on an unrelated author's page.199.126.194.204 (talk) 07:50, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

FAQ
Evidently the FAQ at sehinton.com has been unavailable. These notes (essentially by previous editors) may be useful if that recurs. (which may refer to a more recent version of FAQ) --P64 (talk) 00:40, 11 March 2013 (UTC)
 * current url[when?] http://sehinton.com/misc/faq.php --unavailable on live site currently

Gang reference
S.E. Hinton was not influenced by "two rival gangs". The Greasers and the Soc's (pronounced soash) are classifications for social groups at the time the terms were used. Greasers were usually from the poorer areas of town, blue-collar working class. Soc's were upper middle class or wealthy families, much like the term Preppie which was used in the 80's and 90's. Greasers usually drove souped up older cars or motorcycles, males greased their hair back so it looked like the tail on a duck, or Duck's Ass or also a DA, hence the name Greaser's. Think of Fonzie in the TV show Happy days. Richie Cunningham would have been a Soc because his father owned a business and they lived in a fairly nice home. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Oldgreenfrog (talk • contribs) 09:05, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

I agree the with the comment above. I went to the same High School as S.E. Hinton, Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Soc's and Greasers were not gang but two different social groups. The Soc's were the popular kids with nice cars, usally clean cut, often cheerleaders or class officers, hung out together. Greasers-male had longer greased hair that was combed back sometimes into a duck tail. Girls and the boys smoked in in the back of the school, weren't afraid to cuss to shock someone, some came from a lower social economic status. During that time there were social clubs for guys that for the more upper class. On of the Tulsa high school's in Tulsa Thomas Edison, fell into a wealthy district. Those were the real Soc's.  Mary J. McCauley  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.56.0.93 (talk) 06:17, 3 June 2015 (UTC)

s.e.hinton
I love the outsiders — Preceding unsigned comment added by 167.135.8.251 (talk) 15:47, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
 * thanks for the sentiment. Coolabahapple (talk) 08:38, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 30 September 2016
71.70.193.79 (talk) 22:26, 30 September 2016 (UTC) hello its me
 * No edit requested. CIreland (talk) 22:30, 30 September 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 20 April 2018
She was born on july 22 lol get rekt nerd Licloc123 (talk) 12:38, 20 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. DRAGON BOOSTER   ★  12:48, 20 April 2018 (UTC)

S. E. Hinton instead of S.E. Hinton!? Why, Wikipedia?! Why! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.68.2.144 (talk) 12:51, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

Edit request
In the 'Career' section, it is stated that over 14 million copies of 'The Outsiders' have been sold since 1967. Citing a different source, it is then claimed that the novel 'still sells more than 500,000 a year.'

While each of the two citations are valid - that is, the numbers referenced in the Wikipedia page reflect the numbers given by the two sources - the math doesn't add up. If the book has been averaging over 500,000 copies sold each year, it would have sold in excess of 27.5 million copies - and that is a conservative estimate, as it likely sold many more copies in the first few years after its publication.

I did a little digging; it seems that many independent sources estimate that the total number of copies sold is indeed around 14 million. However, only one source is ever cited when referencing the 500,000 copies sold per year - Viking Books, which is a subdivision of Penguin Random House, and the publisher of 'The Outsiders.' My guess is that this annual sales figure is artificially inflated. I would suggest changing the page to only reflect the total number of books sold, and omit the claim of 500,000 books sold each year.

Not that any of this really matters, I just found the contradictory numbers to be interesting. And evidently I have too much time on my hands...

WikiPeterPan (talk) 07:32, 5 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: Wikipedia's policy when sources differ is as follows: "If reliable sources disagree, then maintain a neutral point of view and present what the various sources say, giving each side its due weight ... Our job as editors is simply to summarize what reliable sources say." (WP:V). I've adjusted the wording to be more clear. Additionally, it's entirely possible that the book sold poorly before the 2000s, and picked up recently. — PerfectSoundWhatever  (t; c) 21:03, 8 October 2022 (UTC)