Rules of the Road

Road of the Road by Joan Bauer is about a sixteen year old girl named Jenna who spends the summer quickly becoming an adult. Jenna not only works during the year selling shoes, but is hired full-time to drive her employer Mrs. Gladstone cross-country and confronts many issues such as self-confidence, responsibility, alcoholism, Alzheimer's, death...the list could go on.
I found Jenna to be overly mature for a sixteen year old, more of a picture of what a parent would like their child to be rather what they are. Jenna is not at all self-centered or irrational. She enjoys working, she takes care of her family, she keeps her cool when Mrs. Gladstone nixes her lunch plans and doesn't blow up at Elden.
Aside from questioning Jenna's character, I thought the story was well-written. I especially liked the parallels between the disrespect  and dismissiveness shown to teens with the disrespect and dismissiveness shown to senior citizens.

The Outsiders - SE Hinton

I've read that The Outsiders is considered (one of) the first YA novels and it's easy to see why. It has a lot of the characteristics from the powerpoints including the young narrator, the dramatic and quick action and emotion and absent/uninvolved parents/adults. It also has that optimistic ending and a sense of youth empowerment at the end...  A 'Ponyboy wrote down his story, maybe my story is important to tell, too' type of feeling, I think.
I read this book in 8th grade and I remembered liking it, but when I thought about it, I couldn't remember why. I'm from a small town with no gangs or violence so I wasn't sure why I liked it or what I related to. The book is clearly still popular though; my suburban library has 5 copies and I read many posts online  by teens saying that they couldn't put the book down. After rereading, I think Ponyboy's voice is what makes the book timeless. His voice is open, honest, and he makes great observations... His tone is relatable and transcends the characteristics of the reader.
And just an aside, the copy I picked up was newer and had an interview with the author in the back that was very interesting. I didn't realize that S.E. Hinton was a woman, and also learned that she started writing the book at 15 when a real-life incident (complete with "greaser!" name-calling) happened to one of her school friends.