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

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Summary: Out of the Dust book review
Review: Out of the Dust is a heart-warming book about the Okalahoma dust storms. Karen Hesse wrote an excellent book that kept me on the edge of my seat not knowing what was going to happen to Billie Jo and her family. She was always scared inside and out when the storms were going on during the dust bowl. Billie Jo's mother dies while having her baby brother after a freak accident with fire and burning her when she was coming back into the house. Billie Jo does not realize that her mom was coming into the house and it surprised me as well. As I read this book it was hard for me to keep back my emotions. Karen Hesse does and excellent job in keeping the attention of the reader and making the story feel so real as it was going on in the time period of the dust bowl. Out of the Dust is a great edition to children's literature and deserved the Newberry award for making a difference in the life of a reader. The point of view was appropriate for the story that was through the eyes of Billie Jo the main character. The point of view enlarged my viewpoint as I read the book. The information meant more to me as I read the story through the eyes of a child living through the dust bowl. The author revealed the characters in an appropriate matter by introducing the family of Billie Jo and then the neighbors. The characters add to the book and seem to be based on real people that were living during the dust bowl. The facts that were written about were all fiction and made the events in the story more understandable. I personally liked the picture on the front cover of the book it grabbed my attention and made me want to read and find out more about this little girl, which is exactly what it did. The book is well designed in that it follows the same format all the way through and gives the story a different way of reading it. Out of the Dust was well deserving of the Newberry Award of 1998. This book I feel made a lasting contribution to the history of fiction books. Karen Hesse did an excellent job in making this a fiction book by including factual information that meant a lot to me as I read it.

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Summary: Out of the Dust
Review: Some time ago my eight year old granddaughter loaned me this book..Yesterday I read it. I was born in 1936 and raised in Western Oklahoma. This book tells with great accuracy the family stories I have heard all my life. I would highly recommend it to child and adult readers. I loved it...

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Summary: OuT OF THe DuSt
Review: This book is about A girl named Joe. Joe is a girl who lives out in the middle of nowhere. She has a mother that is pregnent, and her dad is always very mad. Joe is a very good piano player,untill one day a fire in the kitchen broke lose.Joe's hands were burnt when she was trying to tame the fire, and her mother was burnt very bad, then they took her to the hospital. When she was at the hospital she started to have her baby.After she had her baby she died because of the wounds from the fire.The baby also died because of the fire, before the mother died she called the baby Franklin. After the president at that time.

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Summary: Out Of The Dust
Review: I gave this book 5 stars because, it told good details. It desribe the setting it made me think that I was there. I thot the author gave good voice. She didn't us powerful words.It was easy to follow. I could not put it down. I want to read another book by Karen Hesse.

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Summary: Out of the Dust
Review: The book out of the Dust is a very thoughtful book,meaning that it was really sad like when her mother died in a fire and it also her not yet born baby brother died too. Also when you are reading this book you can really get into it where you don't want to put in down! Another thing is thst Billie Jo's hands get burned really bad and it hurts so bad that Billie Jo can't play the piano and that makes her reallt sad. When her mother dies Billie Jo thinks it's all her fault and her father stops talking to her. So when that happens she starts playing the piano. I'm going to stop so I won't give the book away. So I think everyone shold read it!!!!!!

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Summary: Out of the Dust
Review: Out of the Dust is one of the most memorable books that I have read in a long time. Karen Hesse, the author, captured the despair and tragedy of the time period in a remarkable way. The story takes place during the mid 1930's in the heart of the Dust Bowl and is told in poem form through the eyes of a young girl named Billie Jo. She tells us that her name was the result of her father's desire to have a son. Billie Jo's life unfolds in a series of poetic journal entries that disclose the events she is forced to endure. Some events are good; however, most are tragic and life changing for our young narrator. The events force us to feel the pain of this likable young girl as if we were personally experencing them with her. I highly recommend this book to all who enjoy reading books that evoke powerful emotions.

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Summary: Out of the dust
Review: I thought the book Out of the Dust was in a way boring the whole time, but it was still a good book to read. This book really taught me a lot about loniness. It was very well written and the plot was very unusual. The plot was very dramatical and it painted a very vivid picture that I can imagine. It had great historical information. I was really touched on how the main character acted to her mothers death. This book is anything but action packed; however this is still a fantastic book to enjoy and read.

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Summary: OUT OF THE DUST
Review: Karren hesse did a wonderfull job of telling the life on the panhandle. There are lots of historical infromation in this that she got from old newspapers. This story ids about bilie Jo, a young girl that lived in the time of the Dust bowl. It is based on true events that really happened. Her life is hard as when her mom dies after giving birth to her baby brother. The brother dies before there aunt comes to take him away. Billie joe and her father are very upset and talk to each other very little.

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Summary: Out of the Dust
Review: I have read Out of the Dust and I thought it was a very interesting book. This book had a lot of historical information. Out of the Dust was about a 13 year old girl named Billie Jo. Here family was surviving the dust bowl. Her hardest times in the book I think was when her mother died from the burns she got. Billie Jo had an extreamly hard life. Her dad blamed the accident that killed mama on her, so he didn't talk to her very much any more. She has to survive the hrroible dust storms almost everyday. Some of the storms fill houses with two feet of dust other storms runed cars an tractors because the engine got filled with dust. Pretty much every storm runed thier crops and made dunes like the dunes in deserts. I gave it five stars because I like how they combined the hitorical facts with the story and poems. I liked how the book was written that you could understand Billie jo's fellings. I would recomend this book to everyon and people who like to read and learn history at the same time.

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Summary: Living Life Through Mistakes
Review: This story begins in the winter of 1934. The main character Billie Jo gains a interest in the piano, much like her mother. A man named Arley Wonderdale teaches music at her school once a week. He quickly notices her talents and begins to have her play at such events as a musical at the Palace Theater, and at the Presidents Birthday Ball. Soon her hands go bad, and she can't play like she used to. When Billie was young, there was a terrible accident with her mother. Billie's dad had a pail of kerosene next to he stove. When her mother was fixing breakfast, she thought the pail was water and she lifted it. She began to pour to make coffee, but instead it made a long string of fire. The fire rose and burst into flames. Billie got burned but not as bad as her mother. Within the following days Billie Jo's pregnant mother, and her baby died. Billie noticed a major change in her and her fathers relationship after the death. He becomes very quiet, and doesn't speak to Billie Jo hardly ever. With all these problems, Billie decides to give up, and get "Out of the Dust" To find out what happens to Billie,and her family get the book! I would recommend this book to anyone. This is a great book. It's really a book for someone who looks for the deeper meaning in the short free verse poems that make up this book.