While other teens spent their time navigating the frustrating social hierarchies of high school, S.E. Hinton deigned to write about them. The result the classic, best-selling novel The Outsiders was published in 1967, 50 years ago today.

The coming-of-age book, which is often studied by young readers in school, follows Ponyboy Curtis and his friends, who are jumped after leaving a movie theatre. Ponyboys a member of the Greasers, and the kids who jump him are Socs; he thinks its impossible for members of the different gangs to get along, until he spends time with one of the Socs girlfriends, Cherry Valance.

This breach has consequences, though. Ponyboy and his friend Johnny find themselves in increasingly dire scenarios, culminating in a church fire.