AND I THOUGHT...

What other novel can be recognizable by two words, not counting character names?

I can't come up with a single one.

But readers of S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders have no doubt about "stay gold".

Advice that Ponyboy Curtis got from Dally.  Based on a Robert Frost poem.

Adolescent literature has been important to me since I taught high school and wrote my Master's paper on the subject.  And there is simply no better adolescent novel than Hinton's first, which she (Susan Elizabeth) wrote when she was 17. 

Certainly it's somewhat dated now.  Not as dated at Maureen Daly's Seventeen, one of the first with an intended teen audience.  But it was important because it blazed the trail for a gap between childrens' lit and adult literature that dealt with themes foreign to teenagers.

I haven't kept up of adolescent lit for a decade or so; thus, I can be of no assistance to suggest titles  In the 70's though, I could have students fill out an interest survey and recommend a book based on their preferences.  Hopefully, I helped a few along the way to develop a love for reading.

And for older folks like me, I'd certainly suggest David McCullough.  He tells history like no other.  But without using a proper noun or two, I can't think of two words that would define any of his non-fiction either.