The Kissing Booth and The Outsiders

When I need a literary escape, I head to the hiking trail or sit down and watch a contemporary movie like The Kissing Booth which is based on the young adult novel by Beth Reekles. 


Reekles was age fifteen when she wrote The Kissing Booth and Random House (now Penguin Random House) picked it up. The film adaptation rights were sold to UK-based production company Komixx in 2013 and they brought in Vince Marcello who wrote the script and directed the movie which was released on Netflix in 2018.

While the book and movie received press for being regressive and full of predictable plot developments, all characters appear to have a good chance of success. 

What I like about the movie aside from the dance scenes and soundtrack, is it points out that perceptions can be skewed and that we seldom truly open up about our feelings, instead we often just expect people to know what we are thinking. 

Susan Eloise Hinton is credited with introducing the young adult genre.

Hinton was fifteen when she started writing The Outsiders and eighteen when it was published. Years later The Outsiders became a film directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Hinton drew us in with naming the protagonist Ponyboy Curtis and another Sodapop. You have rival gangs, the Socs (rich kids), and the Greasers ( Ponyboys group).  Hinton showed us what it is like to be considered to have little chance of success.

Though written more than fifty years apart, both books make us aware that age shouldn't matter when it comes to the ability to communicate feelings with words and that through modeling and support we often learn self-respect.