After finishing The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Middle School students explored empathy and perspective-taking by imagining how society might remember key characters from the novel. Students wrote formal obituaries honoring a character who dies in the story and created Wanted posters for characters whose actions challenged the law or social expectations. They included physical descriptions, notable “crimes”, quotes, and symbolic imagery that reveal each character’s complexity. Together, these projects demonstrate how literature invites us to look beyond first impressions - to see courage, mistakes, and humanity on both sides of the Soc-Greasers divide.