Literature Guide: Out of the Dust (Grades 4-8)

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Summary: Review for Out of the Dust for Ms. Bergs class
Review: I thought Out of the Dust was an okay book. If I had to rate it on a one to ten scale (ten being the best) I would give it a seven. I didn't like it too much because it was a tragic book and it had quite a bit of drama. I'm not too fond of books that have too much tragedy and drama. Other than those two categories, I thought it was great.
It was some what of an educational book. It taught me more about the dust bowl and how it effected so much of the population's crops. Anywhere the people went, like California or to the west, things didn't get any better.
I couldn't imagine what it felt like to back then to live in such misery and have everything destroyed by the dust. It was like everyone and everything was eaten by the dust. Once people started planting the crops the dust destroyed them again. If it rained the water would wash away the wheat and the soil.
This was an intresting book. I thought it was okay. If there was a sequal I might read it.

Rating:
Summary: A Really Great Book
Review: Out of the Dust has an interesting format. This book by Karen Hesse is written in free-verse. The main character, Billie Jo, has to live with repulsive problems such as dust everywhere she goes and that her only money source, the wheat, won't grow becuase of the dusty land. Just as her hopes were getting high they are smashed by her mother's gruesome death. Unfortunately, at the time of Billie Jo's mother's death she was pregnant and mournfully the baby died. A few months later Billie Jotries to run away from her problems and hops on a train. She then learns from a stranger that you can't run away from your problems. She then goes back to her father and he has skin cancer. Does he survive and live happily ever after with Billie Jo or does he die and leave Billie Jo all alone in the world with the piano as her only comfort? This exhilarating book keeps you on your toes until the very last word on the very last page.

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Summary: Out of the Dust Critique
Review: I didn't like anything about this book. The book wasn't exciting at all. Almost the whole book was dull. I think it would have been more exciting to me if the dust storms would've been in Phoenix and not in Oklahoma during 1953. Although I didn't think it was very good, Out of the Dust taught me how hard it was to live in the time of the Dust Bowl. I gave this book two stars, because it was dull and boring. The only part I liked in this book was when Ma caught on fire as a result of the kerosene. I liked this moment even though it was sad, it was also exciting.

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Summary: df
Review: Out of the Dust is about a girl named Billie Jo and her family. Billie Jo and her family
live in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. Thousand of people are suffering and dying while Billie Jo and her family try to survive. Billie Jo is put into though positions and is forced to overcome them. Like when she accidentally pours a burning pail of kerosene on her mom which helps kill her. Billie Jo overcomes the accidents in good ways. Like when Billie Jo and her dad wouldn’t speak much Billie Jo started talking to him about how she felt, and that patched up the relationship. Out of the Dust is written in free verse. In some poems the style of writing is like how Billie Jo feels. Billie Jo narrates the whole story. The book is very descriptive which makes you feel like you are there. The author does a great job of describing the hard times. The bad part is the ending isn’t that complete like a happily ever after story, but it pretty much tells what happens. Overall the author did a great job with this story.

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Summary: A Girls Survival Through Disaster
Review: As you are lead through the book, you may see what you don't want to see. It is as if you were there, engaged in this struggle to live through the dustbowl. As this little girl has to deal with disaster at such a young age, so did many, and most of them got through it the same, by hope. You might think the real struggle would be her with her environment, but what she finds out is that the struggle is really between her and her heart and mind. After the "accident," all she has left is her father, not even her piano, which deserted her along with everything else. Does she escape? Will she survive? Find out by reading "Out of the Dust," by Karen Hesse.

Rating:
Summary: A Really Great Book
Review: Out of the Dust has an interesting format. This book by Karen Hesse is written in free verse. The main character, Billie Jo, has to live with repulsive problems such as dust everywhere she goes and that her only way to money, the wheat, won't grow. Just as her hopes were getting high they are smashed by her mothers gruesome death. Unfortunately, at the time of Billie Jo's mother's death she was pregnant and mournfully the baby died. A few months later Billie Jo tries to run away from her problems and hops on a train. She then learns, from a stranger, that you can't run away from your problems. She goes back to her home and her father has skin cancer. Does he survive and live happily ever after with Billie Jo or does he die and leave Billie Jo all alone in the world? This exhilarating book keeps you on your toes until the very last word on the very last page.

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Summary: Oklahoma Dust Disaster
Review: Out of the Dust is an exciting book and I always want to know what's going to happen next. It showed how horrible it was in the Olkalahoma Dust Bowl. I like how the author writes in free-verse and how she makes the poems wild when Billie Jo is having a good time. Like in, "On Stage" and, "The Dream". The author puts something in the story that's bad, then when you think everything is back to normal she makes it bad. Like when Billie Jo was cleaning the dishes and then a dust storm came. I like how the author makes one thing good and then that forms another and another. Like when the father starts to forgive Billie Jo everything starts to forgive her, like the weather. Out of the Dust shows love between different characters. Like Billie Jo and her dad near the end. I would rate this four stars, because the author makes you picture what's going on. You can picture the dust storms, the cars covered in dust, and Ma's grave. I like how the author puts generousity in poems and Billie Jo doesn't get anything for it in the beginning, but at the end Billie gets a picture. Out of the Dust is a well written book that that has love, death, and what's it like in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl.

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Summary: Out of the Dust by: sufer92
Review: This amazing story, Out of the Dust, is about a heartsick, fourteen year-old girl (Billy Jo) who lives in a life of suffering. When the Great Depression rolls around, so does her town's fate. As result from WWI, a series of dust storms attack during the drought of the century. During this awful time Billy Jo was involved in a near fatal accident in which her mother got severely burned and left her hands unable to play the only source of happiness, the piano. After several days of regret her mother dies, which leaves Billy Jo and her father to find some way to communicate and forgive each other for the death of her mother. In this book, the brilliant author leaves you with a new understanding of life on the panhandle during the dustbowl of the 1930's.

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Summary: Too many sad things for one girl
Review: The book Out of the Dust is a good book. It is one of the few books that completely explain what Billie Jo Kelby is thinking, but does not let you know what the other characters are thinking. This book is true to life, because in real life you don't know what anyone else is thinking.
The storyline winds its way through the pain and sorrow of the Great Depression, to the happiness she feels when she plays the piano. That is, until a tragic accident happens. An accident that most people can't imagine, and it all started with a pail of kerosene.
This book weaves its way through Billie Jo's mind to show you all she cares about. With her father gone quiet, her best friend in California, and her comfort siezed from her, I was amazed at how she handled everything. All she has is her dream, but when she follows it, she finds what she wanted was something she already had, which I thought was disappointing.
If I had to rate this book on a scale from 1 to 10, it would have to be a 9. It was one of the best books I have read in awhile, but I thought that there was more than enough tragedy in it. All arround, though, I thought it was a great book.

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Summary: Out ohe Dust- An emotional and exciting thriller!
Review: Out of the Dust is about a young girl named Billie Jo who loses her mother in a tragic accident and has to learn to cope with her new "disability" while taking care of the house and patching things up with her father. This book explains what it was like to live in the Dust Bowl. The author Karen Hesse uses a form of writing called free- verse that I have never seen nor read before. Free- verse is a form of writing where the author uses several small paragraphs or poems to make each chapter. When Billie Jo burns her hands in the accident she is unable to do the one of the things she loves t do, play the piano. When Billie Jo's dad gets skin cancer and doesn't even think to go to the doctor about it Billie Jo decides to run away and go towards the west to California, but once she gets there she realizes that running away from her problems is not going to solve them. What made the book very interesting is that the author (Karen Hesse) wrote the book in Billie Jo's point of view. On a scale from one to ten, one being the worst and ten being the best, I would rate this book as an eight. So, I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend this book to anyone age10-13.