On The Barnes and Noble Book Blog:
"Have you ever read about friends in books and found yourself a bit jealous, wishing you could insert yourself into their tight bond? What if you could? Whose cadre would you join? We asked some of our writers to share who they’d want to exchange friendship necklaces with."
Some of the literary gangs the writers chose to hang out with included the characters from The Fellowship of the Ring, Harry Potter, The Babysitters Club, Frog and Toad, and The Outsiders. Here is the response about The Outsiders:
"Lauren Passell: I want to hang with the Greasers from The Outsiders! (If you haven’t developed a crush on all of the characters yet, watch the movie—seeing the characters depicted by young versions of Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, and Tom Cruise will set you over the edge.) First of all, it is out of character for me to be rough and tough like Ponyboy, Sodapop, Darrel, Buck, Randy, and Two Bit, which is exactly why being in the Greaser gang appeals to me. I would get a cool nickname like Somersault Jones and smoke cigarettes and nobody would mess with me and despite my hard exterior I would save orphans from burning buildings left and right. Ultimatey, I really just want to be able to start rumbles whenever and with whomever I wish. My only fear is that by being one of the boys, I will stay in the friend zone when I all I really want (besides the rumbling) is a greaser boyfriend. I would get so jealous if one of them started dating Cherry. She may be prettier than I am, but can she rumble? You know what, though? Whatever. It’s not just the “cancer sticks” or the rumbles or the whole bad boy thing, it’s the overwhelming sense of the Greasers’ love for each other that I want to be a part of. These boys would die for each other (and some do.) And sometimes when I’m hanging out with my cat, I look at him and worry that he wouldn’t do the same."
