The Outsiders and The Camel Bookmobile

Yesterday I finished reading "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton. It is one of those teen classic books I always meant to read and just never got around to it until now. I must say, I wasn't very impressed with this book. Written 40 years ago, it seems very dated and unrealistic. The main characters are members of a "gang" (they don't like to think of it as such) and they say things like "golly", which, I mean, come on, let's face it, no 16 year old high school drop out greaser working at a gas station is going to say things like that. The 14 year old main character, Ponyboy, is reading "Gone with the Wind", once again, not terribly realistic. It would be a very unique 14 year old boy indeed who enjoys this book. The whole moral of the story (not to judge a book by its cover, basically) is presented in a corny and unconvincing way, and anybody reading it will spot the message a mile away. I honestly can't believe, with all the really great literature out there, that teachers still make kids read this in high school. No wonder so many teens think books are lame.
I also read "The Camel Bookmobile" by Marsha Hamilton, a really fun book about a librarian from New York who goes to Africa to deliver books by camel to natives living in the bush. She teaches them almost as much as they teach her, but unlike "The Outsiders", the lessons were subtle and realistically delivered, and the main characters were well written. It seems like an interesting job, but not one I would ever want! Too many mosquitoes for me, thanks. I would recommend this one, though, to anyone interested in a quick, interesting read.