Stay gold, Ponyboy (Subtitled: Don’t forget about the robots)

Because Sissy is A-Number-One Citizen, she has already read her two Summer Reading Assignment books and is wrapping up her essay on same.  Need I mention that it’s still actually summer vacation?  And the assignment isn’t due until the Friday AFTER school starts?!  Yes, I need mention that, because then you’ll agree – God bless A-Number-One-Citizens!

But because the assignment was written in a confusing way (Two sets of paragraphs, one for EACH book?  Or one set of paragraphs, to cover BOTH books??  See?!  Confusing.) Sissy called me into the computer room where she was typing her assignment for a clarification discussion.

Once that discussion was over, we moved into a conversation about the setting of one of the books.  She had been going down some path where she was trying to place it in time (mid-1960’s) and actual mid-Western state (implied but unnamed).  But she revised it slightly once I started asking my usual insightful questions, “Was the name where the book took place mentioned?  If not, WHERE did it take place – in the country, or a city?  A big, wealthy city or not??  Were there any clues about the time of year when it happened?  Summer?  Winter??”

Then, because I’m a fun and pretty mother – and just a teeeensy bit mean (ok, a LOT mean) – as I’m walking away I say, “And don’t forget about the robots.  I think you should definitely mention something about the robots.”

…processing…processing…processing

“WHAT??!!?!  I DON’T REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT ROBOTS!!!!  HOW CAN I MENTION ABOUT ROBOTS WHEN I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THERE WERE ROBOTS?!??!!”

I suppose it would be helpful if you knew which books I was talking about, right?  One was uglies by Scott Westerfeld.  Published in 2011.  Never heard of it.  Never read it.  However, it looks intriguing: “A world where everyone’s ugly.  And then they’re not.”  Hmmmm…

But the other book?  The one with the robots??  The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.  Now THAT’S what I’m talkin’bout.  Read it.  Lived it.  LOVED it!  It was the book of my generation.  Well…more like the movie of my generation, but still.  Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and released in 1983.  It starred all those hot boys from back in the day – C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio.  Oh my GOSH!  And?  It introduced robots into the mainstream.  It doesn’t GET any more 80’s than that, who’s yer daddy?!  Except when I mention that the movie popularized that song “Gloria” by Them.  G-L-O-R-I-Aaaaa.  Glooo-ria!

Turning book reports into winning strategies for the “80’s Song for Every Moment in Life” game we play. 

And now that I’ve won this round, all I have to say in closing is: Stay Gold, Ponyboy! 

And no, there aren’t any robots in the book OR the movie.  I was just funnin’ ya.