The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton: A Final Unit Project

This project consists of designing an informational book jacket for The Outsiders. Each panel of the jacket has specific instructions and criteria that must be met in order to receive full credit. This gives students the opportunity to not only showcase their knowledge of the book’s plot, themes, character motivations, and vocabulary, but also allows them to use creativity to express what they know about the book.

Front Cover Directions: Create cover art for the jacket. The cover art must be designed and compiled by the student. It’s okay if you’re not the most artistic person. It’s the idea that matters most! Think about specific parts in the novel that are important to the plot, and use those ideas to work from. The cover MUST be relevant to the book, and may not be random or unrelated artwork. At the bottom, please include, “Illustrated by: YOUR NAME”. Make the cover as colorful and attractive as possible.

Inside Front Fold Directions: Tell what your favorite scene from the book was. The synopsis of your favorite scene from the novel must be a minimum of 150 words long and #1-Tell your audience what happens in this scene, #2 – Tell your audience why this is your favorite part of the book, and #3 – Tell your audience how this scene fits into the novel as a whole.

Spine Directions: The title of the novel (The Outsiders) and the author (S.E. Hinton).

Back Cover Directions: At the top, a brief summary of the novel in your own words. You may not use the book plot synopsis from any version of the actual Outsiders novel or anything you find online. This should be written in your own words. Underneath the plot synopsis, include a review of the novel. You may not use the critic reviews from any version of the actual Outsiders novel or any plagiarized reviews you find from other sources. This should be written in your own words. You may create reviews by ficticious or famous people. EX: “Snoop Dogg had this to say about the Outsiders: It was straight up the best book I’ve ever read yo!”

Inside Back Fold Directions: There are 3 options to choose from for this component:
#1 – Include an alternate ending to the book, written as if it were an extra page.
OR
#2 – Using your persuasive powers of writing, convince someone else to read this book. INCLUDE: your own honest opinion about the book. If you did not like this book, obviously trying to convince someone else to read it is not going to work for you and you should choose another option.
Tell your audience why you liked the book and why it is worthwhile for other people to read.

OR
#3 – Tell what 3 characters are like or will be doing 10 years after the book ends (Remember, the book ends in 1967, so the events would take place in 1977. Also remember to age the characters by 10 years). INCLUDE: Choose a minimum of 3 characters.
What the character’s economic status is 10 years after the end of the book.
What the character is doing for a living 10 years after the book.
Whether or not the character has children, husband/wife, and where they are living.