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Summary: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
Review: "Out of the dust" by Karen Hesse was a good book for every age. It told how a dirl Billie Jo, her family and the town survived throught the Dust Bowl and the harsh conditions of it. But it was worse for Billie Jo and her dad after accidentaly throughing a pail of Kerosene at her ma. After her ma dieing from the burn and giving birth to Billie's brother Frankin who soon died later. The book described in detail the conditions, feelings, thoughts, and events taht took place during her life. This book is a free verse which means that Billi Jo wrote the book the way she did and about her own life and not by someone else. The author wrote the book in good detail and gave information off about the Dust Bowl and how the people survived throught that and the Depression. This book was great and i enjoyed reading it. The only bad part about it was the end of the book. It didn't give enough detail on what happened but it still told what happened.
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Summary: Out of the Dust
Review: Karen Hesse's "Out of the Dust" was very interesting. Hesse's use of vivid language, her style of writing, and the interesting plot that she created can not be matched. "Out of the Dust" was written in a style different than most Newbery Medal winners. This story was written in free verse poetry, instead of the usual paragraph form. This was a very smart choice, though. Her free verse poetry described the characters and the events much better than other stories. It easily created a clear, descriptive picture in my mind. The author of "Out of the Dust" made her writing explanatory and colorful, too. She used similes and metaphors to catch the reader's attention and create a work of art. For example, Karen Hesse described the main character as a "long-legged girl" with "cheekbones like bicycle handles". It was not hard to follow the text in this book. The plot in this book is one of a kind. Taken place in the 1930's, during a time when dust storms and the Great Depression rocked the American well-being, a young, red-headed girl tries to survive this terrible time that she lives in. This girl faces all kinds of conflicts, including human vs. nature, human vs. self, and even human vs. society. Throughout her journey in life, she realizes many things about her family that takes great effect on her. As a daughter and a friend, she becomes a better person. "Out of the Dust", by Karen Hesse, was beautifully written. The story was well-thought out, with many twists and turns along the way. It was a brilliant piece of writing, and certainly enjoyable to read.
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Summary: Out Of The Dust
Review: Out of The Dust, by Karen Hesse is about a girl, Billie Jo, growing up during the Dust Bowl era. The book is written in free-verse poetry, which makes it interesting to read.
In the story, Billie Jo faces many hardships. Which include, the dust storms, not having much money, her mother & baby brother dying, and her being left to keep the family, which consisted of her father and her, together. Bille Jo's one refuge was to play the piano. But, after the terrible accident that had killed her mother and baby brother, her hands are left terribly scarred. These scars prevent her from doing things because her hands hurt her terribly, and she is in shame, because she partly blames herself for her mother's death.
Being during the Dust Bowl era, there was also a lack of money, as it were also the Great Depression. The farmers had taken advantage of the great amounts of wheat that they had produced during the '20's. Sadly, it had ended after the '30's had begun. The farmers had over-farmed the land, by planting the same crop over and over, which had sucked all the nutrients out of the soil, turning it to dust.
On a 1-10 scale, ten being the highest, I would rate this book a 7.
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Summary: how the book compares with buffalo snowstorms
Review: In "Out of the dust" the storms that Karen Hesse describes are similar to the bufffalo snowstorms. In buffalo we have bad snoe we may see 2ft, or we may see3ft we dunno when its going to hit or how much snow we will expect just like how Billie jo doesnt know when, or where the dust storm is going to hit. Also in buffalo they got slammed with snow up to 7ft in 48 hours, and this is similar to the book by how the crops always blow away eventhough her father tries and tries to grow wheat.
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Summary: my review for a great book
Review: Karen Hesse, a very talented author, wrote a very interesting story called Out of the Dust. It is written as a book of poetry that tells of a young girls life, and how she deals with death and relationships. Billie Jo, the main character, tells the story in her own words, how she feels and what she thinks about the problems that come up. I especially like how Billie Jo tells of her dream she has after her mother's death. The author, Karen Hesse, wrote it as though it were real. It was like nothing in the dream made any sense, yet it was like real life. Billie Jo like to play the piano but her hands had been burned form an accident that caused her mother to die. In the dream she went to play the piano and couldn't, then the piano busted into a million pieces. It was how she felt about losing her mother, because her mother loved to play the piano too. I think having Billie Jo speak for herself gave the book an edge that had me feel for her more than if someone had narrated it. Those who read this book will learn that family needs to stay together. Like Billie Jo needed her father love. I give Out of the Dust five stars for being so creative and I am so glad I had a chance to read
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Summary: Darkness after the dust
Review: An epic tale of a young girl trapped in the dust and tragedy-filled hellhole she calls home. After her mother's death, Billie Jo is left to care for her emotionally deteriorating father who rarely speaks to her and spends hi miserable time digging the pond his late wife so desired. Join the treacherous adventure of a girl longing for a place to truly call home, a place with rich farmland and full of opportunities, a place where she can finally get... "Out of the Dust"
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Summary: Running from the Dust Bowl
Review: Do you like to go to sad movies that get you to cry? Do you like to read sad books? If you said yes to either of these then you will really enjoy reading the sad but very well- written book, Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse.
This book takes place in the dust bowl. The main character of this book is a girl named Billie Jo. Billie Jo plays the piano. Billie Jo's family finds out that her mother is going to have a baby. Billie Jo's mom died giving birth to the baby after being terribly burned in an accident involving kerosene. Billie Jo runs away from the dust bowl and her father. She soon realizes that running away is not the right thing to do and that family is very important. After realizing this Billie Jo returned home.
I would give this book four out of five stars. A reason for this is that this book is written as if it is the girl's journal. This shows you the emotions of the character. This is good because it lets you feel like you know the character a little better. Another reason that I gave this book four out of five stars is that this book has a really good plot. There are a lot of obstacles or conflicts that Billie Jo has to face. Some of these conflicts are dust storms and the fact that Billie Jo could not play piano because her hands were burnt. The reason I took of one star is that this book is very sad! Towards the middle, everything in this book became sad.
Billie Jo is a very smart girl. One thing that makes Billie Jo unique is that she can play the piano wonderfully. She even performed in some shows. Then, she burnt her hands. That changed many things. She could not play piano or do a lot with her hands because they would hurt her a lot.
Billie Jo is sad that her mother died. She is also angry at her father for putting the kerosene next to the stove.
One scene that really stood out to make this book very good is when Billie Jo ran away. Billie Jo ran away from her father and all of the dust storms. Billie Jo was on the train for a few days. On the train she met someone who had left his family. The man that she met left the train. He left a picture of his family for Billie Jo. Billie Jo realized that she should be at home. She called someone so that they would tell her father that she was going to come home.
I would somewhat recommend this book. This book is for people who like historical fiction. This is also good for people who like to feel the emotions that the character is having.
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Summary: Mass read for countywide discussion
Review: The city of El Dorado Kansas and Butler County, KS decided it would be a neat idea for the whole city/county to read this book at once and then have discussion groups about the book, so my wife brought home a copy and read it and asked me to read it. I am an avid reader so I whipped through it in one sitting. It is written at about a 4th or 5th grade level, above it says 9 to 12 but we read The Hobbit in 6th grade when I was a kid. "Out of the Dust" was a good story and it did give the reader a sense of what it was like in Oklahoma during the dust bowl. It is written as a series of free verse poetry, that at first was a bit odd but it worked. It is a nice book but not for a serious reader, unless you have an hour or two to waste on a trip and don't want to haul around a large book. I would recommend it to Jr. High kids. It is a bit much for anyone younger than that to understand and it is not compelling enough for anyone older than that.
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Summary: Great Book!
Review: I absolutely loved this book! I read it as a 5th grader and I enjoyed it very much! It is written in a very unique way. They almost look like poems. Even kids who don't like to read would enjoy this book!
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Summary: Henry's review on Out of the Dust
Review: Karen Hesse did a wonderful job on Out of the Dust. This was written in poetry form in a diary. Billie-Joe is a teenage girl who loves piano. In the summer ma is going to have a baby. There is a pail of kerosene on the oven and ma thinks it is water so she puts it in coffee and catches fire. Billie-Joe thinks it is water and pours it on Ma. Ma eventually dies and so does the baby she was carrying. Billie-Joe has to live with only her dad. It is hard to play the piano for Billie-Joe because her hands were badly burnt from the fire. I reccomend this book to everybody in 5th grade and everybody above.
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