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

Rating:
Summary: Too much poetry
Review: I feel the book was well written for a person who likes poetry. If you don't , you probably won't enjoy the book. Every page is a different poem but in a story format. This book mostley pertains to young teens or mature 7 to 10 year olds. The book is about times during the great depression in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. It tells the life of a girl who survives the dust storms and the famous Black Sunday(April 14, 1935).

Rating:
Summary: I Really Enjoyed This Book!
Review: Out of The Dust is the story of a 14-year-old Bille Joe and all the hardships she face while living on the Oklahoma panhandle during the Great Depression . The most horrible of all the hardships is when her mother dies in an accident which she feels she is partially to blame. I love the way Karen Hesse writes this book in free verse poem. I felt it gave me a better prespective of Bille Joe. I also felt it had much more emotion then it would have had if it had been written as a regular novel. This book reminded me not to take everything I have for granted an to be thankful for what I have. I thought this was an excellent book, however I would only recommend this to people 10 and up because it is extremly depressing. If you enjoyed reading this book I would recommend reading Letters from Rifka or The Music of the Dolphins, also by Karen Hesse.

Rating:
Summary: A Brush of the Dust
Review: The book OUT OF THE DUST by Karen Hesse, was okay. I liked the poetic format because it got right to the point. If I could change the book, I would write more about the Great Depression. Billy Jo, the main character helped me realize what it was like during the Dust Bowl era for the people who actually lived through it. Instead of just facts, OUT OF THE DUST showed all of the emotions of the characters. I would recomend this book for someone who is interested in American history.

Rating:
Summary: Out of the Dust
Review: Out of the Dust~This book was an enjoying read. Our 8th grade class combined reading this book in our Language Arts and Social classes. This book was about a 14 year old girl that wrote pomes about her life durring the dust bowl. Many of the pomes are sad, some are funny and others are more on the serious side. The book makes you want to read on. It was very interestin and made you not want to put the book down. I think this book would be good for kids that don't like learning about social studies, because it gives and exciting point of view to Social Studies.

Rating:
Summary: -This book will make you think you were in the Dust Bowl.
Review: Out of the Dust is written by Karen Hesse in a very unique format. To me the poems on each page made the book very interesting allowing the author to give more and more detail about every situation. For example when describing the dust storms throughout the book she makes you feel you are involved in the actual event. The way Karen Hesse involves a familie's point of view, makes you understand the suffering many endured. My favorite part of the book is when Billie Jo feels like she has a burden on her for her mother's death. The way she fights for people to look past her personal tradegy and to who she really is as a person, makes me say that this girl is a strong person.

Rating:
Summary: Escape The Dust
Review: I thought the book Out of the Dust was sad but good to read. Karen Heast did a great job on explaining how the peoples lives were like. She put alot of despcriptive info in her writing. Some parts of the story I felt like I was in the story. Most of the time I like reading about a historical books an event that happened. I gave a ten because I really got into the book. I felt sad when he little brother and mother died. That was the worst part ever. I wondered what my life would have been like if I lived when that happened. I wonder what Billie Jo felt like when the dust stopped. This book showed me that life can be wrecked by horrible events. but these events bring p[epole closer together.

Rating:
Summary: Out of the Dust
Review: This book was about a girl named Billie Jo. At the begining of the book she was 13 years old. She lived with her mother, and her father. I thought this book was really good. It told me about the Dust Bowl. I learned about Black Tuesday and how some of the people survived through it. Billie Jo lives in the Panhandle of Oklahoma. Billie Jo's ma got pregnant, and then there was a terrible accident, and Billie Jo looses both her ma and her brother. Her baby brother was born then he died. Billie Jo's ma died after her little brother was born.

Rating:
Summary: Out of the Dust
Review: I read the book Out of the dust by karen hesse. I think that this book was very good because she always left you hanging and it is hard to put the book down. The backround of the book was about a 13 year old girl named Billy-jo~ ( the reason her name is Billy-jo is because her father wanted a baby boy but he got a girl so he named her with a who is a red headed skinny girl who has a hunger for playing the piano. There are many things that happen between he and her parents that are sad.)who was in the dust bowl. The format of this book is all poems of her exsperiences with life. I found this book to be a quick read.

Rating:
Summary: Out of the Dust
Review: I rate this book an 8 out of ten. I would give it an 8 because as some points in the book it gets boring. The book is good because it explains everything so good that you feel like your actually there. This book is just like real life. It has obstacles that are easy and some that are hard. One obstacle is when her mother dies. The way she discribes the dust storms makes you wonder why peopl would actually live there.

Rating:
Summary: My review on Out of the Dust
Review: I am rating this book a nine. The reason for my rating is because I love to read books that make you feel like you are present in the story. This book made me feel very sad about the way the dust destroyed peoples lives, and what they had. I think this book was very well written by Karen Hesse. I love how Billie Joe, the 14 year old girl who took place in The Dust Bowl,speaked freely about how she felt and the way she explained the way some damages looked that were around her. I would recommend this book to children that are twelve and up.