'The Outsiders' is being released as an e-book

[May 08, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Almost 45 years after "The Outsiders" was first published, S.E. Hinton is ready to take her classic young adult novel to the next level: an e-book.

The 61-year-old Hinton appeared Monday at a luncheon in her honor hosted by her publisher, Penguin Group (USA). She says, "I just figured you need to keep up with the times."

The electronic edition is expected this spring.

Hinton has already been active online through her Twitter feed, @se4realhinton. The Tulsa, Okla., resident exchanges tweets with Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez and other stars of the film version of "The Outsiders."

She says she also keeps up with "The Outsiders" fan fiction, enough so that she's written some of her own, under a different name.

[Associated Press]

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