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

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Summary: Out of the Dust Review
Review: I think that Out of the Dust is one of the most interesting books I've ever read. The words they use are so discriptive, it realy gives you an image in your mind. My favorite character is Billie Joe, she's very brave and is always accused for everything.
Out of the Dust is about a girl that was expected to be a boy, at least that's what her father wanted her to be. This girl was named Billie Joe, because her dad realy wanted a boy. Although Billie Joe wasn't what they expected she still did everything on her own. Her dad made her work pretty hard. When Billie was a girl in preschool one of her best friends moved Billie was very upset, but she went on with her life. Her dad makes her do tough jobs, as if she was a boy. Billie Joe loved to play the piano, just like her mother. Her mother was once again pregnant with a baby. My favorite poem was The Accident, once you get up to there you'll see what I mean. It's the most discussing part of the book. Billie had a chane to play the piano in the palace. At first her mother didn't want to but then she gave her permission. When Billie's mother had the baby, she died afterwards, a few weeks later the baby died. After this happened Billie Joe seemed awkward with her father. As if he was a stranger to her. She new it was her father but it felt like it was someone else. This book was thought realy well, if I could talk to the auther face to face, I would tell her how talented she is and how much I loved her book. I would realy recommend this book for people,or kids, that like to realy picture things. It's the number 1 book I've read this year.

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Summary: Out Of The Dust Review
Review: I think that Out Of The Dust is an awesome book if you are into the great depression. It is a very realistic and intriguing novel. Karen Hesse describes every scene with a huge amount of detail. This book won the 1998 Newberry Medal, and I think it deserves it.
This book is about a girl named Billie Jo who lives with her mom and dad in Oklahoma. It is a hard life for Billie Jo and her family. Her dad is a farmer with not very much luck, and it seems it will never rain. Things are going normal until one day when Billie Jo and her pregnant mother get severe burns from an accident. Billie Jo has to live with her hands being badly burned, and her mother is covered with burns while she is weeks away from giving birth. While giving birth her mother dies, it is a boy named Franklin, hours later he dies too. After Billie Jo's mother passed away she and her father barely talk anymore. The meals are quiet and it seems her father is a little crazy. I don't want to give any more of the book away. I think you should read it to find out the rest of this interesting story.
This book is an exciting story about the Great Depression, giving readers a taste of what it was really like. It makes you glad that you didn't have to live during the depression. It also tells about the amazing dust storms in the dust bowl. These storms were farmer's nightmares. Everyday the farmers prayed for rain but for a long time they never had any. This book is creative because it is told and written completely in poem format. This makes it fun and easy to read.
I really like how the author describes everything that happens. This book is a good one for kids because it draws you in, and it is not too long. But it is still a great story for adults too. After you finish this book you'll realize that back then life was hard and there was tons of work. Now we have time to relax and read great books like this.

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Summary: Out of the Dust review
Review: I was assigned to read Out of the Dust as an assignment for my English class. I had tried reading it earlier, in about 5th grade, but had found it boring and hard to understand. (I am now in 7th grade.) However, recently I've started to write my own poetry, so I could relate to Billie Joe's (the main character) way of expressing herself. Also, we had just finished learning about the Dust Bowl in history class, so it was easier to understand parts that had confused me earlier.
I actually enjoyed this book very much. I liked it for its genuineness, sincerity and open honesty. I liked how things were described so I could really picture everything in my head. The poetry I write is similar to hers, so I learned a little about that as well.
I really admire Billie Jo's character in the book. She has courage, determination and perseverance. She pushes through certain things that handicap her and follows her dream of playing the piano. She acts strong, like everything's under control, for her father, friends and neighbors. She tries to act like the hard times aren't getting to her, but inside of her they are. Those emotions get out through her music and her writing. I think she is a very talented individual, but definitely had a hard life. I have trouble imagining what life what be like if I lived during the Great Depression/Dust Bowl. I am quite fortunate that I don't live then.
I think that Billie Jo's community is really quite remarkable. Even in the most desperate times, they pull together, help each other out and manage to keep their children from starving. Local bands play music together for families, which gives everyone a chance to forget the daily trials they must go through. Another example is when the sheriff busts a group of moon shiners, and then gives the sugar that they used, to the children (who are, of course, delighted).
I think that when the author wrote this story, she meant to send little messages out through her work. One of them was that even the smallest kind deed can make a difference. Also, if everyone helps everyone out, no one will really have to suffer.

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Summary: Out of the dust review (read me)
Review: I gave "out of the dust" 2 stars because the book was not what I prefer to read. I don't like books where after you read, you come out really depressed. I like books that are exciting and make you feel good after you close it. When I read this book it makes me feel so depressed hearing about how bad times were. The book was very well written but i really don't want to hear about day after day of dust storms and disasters. I liked some of the poems in the book but sometimes it just seemed like the author was writing a normal book but just breaking up all the writitng and saying they are poems.
I have just read a book ont he great depression called "no promises in the Wind" and I enjoyed it unlike "Out of the Dust" because the book was about an adventure and courage of two boys. But "out ff the Dust" is just a depressing book about a girls life being destroyed and all the horrible things that went on in the 20's. Sometimes when I was reading this book I had to put it down because I couldn't take some of the material and the graphic scenes with the burns. A good book to me is one that makes you smile when you put it down, not something that disturbs you and gives you nightmares after reading it. This book has soem good points as well beacuase it really gives you an idea of how times wwere in the dust bowl back then. If you are learning about the great depression it is a good book to read. It was very descriptive but sometimes too graphic. This book was assigned to me by the school but I don't think i would have read it by myslef, because reading sometihng that makes me depressed is not my idea of entertainment. I still think this is an excelent book even know it is not to my liking, because it puts you back in time and really paints a picture in your head.

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Summary: Out of the dust review
Review: The book was very cool, it was informational, exciting, and a very good book to read. Although it had some sad parts in it, I enjoyed reading it because, it shows the struggles that many children living in the dust bowl went through. Billie-Jo represented those children. Like her , children's mothers, fathers, and friends and family died. She lost many brothers and sisters, because of all the birth misshapes that affected her mother, while giving birth. Billie-Jo's mother died giving birth to her brother, and the baby died before her aunt could come to pick it up.
Billie-Jo's love for music kept her going through all of this, even when her father met another woman. She loved to play, she just had a passion. This was very clearly expressed in the book. The other characters were also expressed very well, like Billie-Jo's father. His role was a man with so much pride that it sometimes clouded his judgment. The characters is part of what makes this such a good book. They make it come alive, infact, so alive that it makes the book believable. Besides it being a historical fiction.
A very creative feature of the book is the way it is written. It is not completely a narrative story, because it is written in poems that Billie-Jo wrote in some kind of journal, or diary. It takes place during the same time as the great depression, witch was a terrible time for all, because in the states that were not in the dust bowl area, there were very little jobs and money, because of the stock market crash in nineteen-twenty-nine.
This book defiantly deserved the Newberry medal award, because it gave information, and showed passion through out the entire book. Which , I think, is very impressive. The book was creative, smart, exciting and overall, very, very, enjoyable.
This book helped me to understand how people, children especially, must've felt during this time, during the dust bowl. It was very disturbing to read about the troubles that they faced, but also very touching how it all ended to be okay.
I loved this book, because it was encouraging, along with everything I already mentioned.

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Summary: Out of the Dust Review
Review: In my opinion Out of the Dust deserves no more than four stars. I give it three because the poems weren't that interesting and I understand that it was a free verse and it had to rhyme but I didn't really enjoy it all that much. Winter, spring and fall were more interesting than summer to me because there wasn't a lot of action in the main part of the book. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl were interesting to me but it wasn't put very well in this book. When the parts come up, some give you a sense and this kind of sadness for their family.
Her dad doesn't play a big part in the book and in my life and many people, their fathers are important to them and since it was a children's novel, I personally felt it wasn't as interesting to me because it's nice to read about daughter and fathers, as well as everyone in the family, and it doesn't really get that way till the end of the beginning. The book was about our history and it plays a big part of how our society is today and we learned a lot from that. There aren't as many details and it isn't a fast read kind of book. It wasn't that long, but you have to understand the context and the importance of their suffering. I did during the first half of the book but when it came to the middle I kind of got lost and had to read it again.
I think it's important for children especially, to learn in other forms besides teachers and textbooks. The free verse poem was long and it kept going on and you never knew what was going to happen next. It was inspiring to learn about their struggles and suffering and be thankful for what we have and they didn't, but the book also made you sad and depressed. It was confusing at some points and you had to read it over and it wasn't always necessary to go back and read it and get lost again because I knew that it was bad anyways. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn about our history and wants to read a good book.

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Summary: Out Of The Dust Review
Review: This book was really unique because not only did it tell a creative story, it told one in a poem form. The free verse poems were really good. They made you imagine exactly what might've been going on like how Billie Jo felt after she couldn't play, how she loved the piano and longed to play and her excitement and sadness. It used descriptive, colorful, and very imaginative words so it could create a picture in your head. Plus, it displayed a lot of emotion and reflected the hard work, dedication, and devotion of the author. And besides, if you see the Newberry Medal, you have to assume it's good so why not read it and find out? All the events seemed so real and so did the characters. While some scenes displayed a lot of emotion and miserable feeling, the others displayed happiness and laughter. The book just made you want to keep on reading-nonstop! Well, it made me. It was one of the best books I ever read. I read one Newberry Medal book and it totally bombed, so I thought that maybe all the books with the Newberry Medal sign were similar to that. So I never, ever read one after the first one. And when I found out we were required to read Out of the Dust (a Newberry book) for English class, I wasn't exactly thrilled. In fact, I put off reading it for almost a week. Then I realized I had to read it, so I started on the first page. I continued, fascinated about how the author could use such brilliant words to describe such simple things. It really made you want to have met the author and ask on-going questions about how she could've come up with such a great story. And I could really relate to some of the events. Like how when Billie Jo's hand had been wounded and she couldn't play the piano. One time, my hands just hurt a lot. I wasn't injured or anything but every time I moved even a finger, all my bones would start aching. And the pain would then travel throughout my entire body. It only lasted for a day. I couldn't write-even thought I wished and wished and wished that I could. I had so many ideas in my head...so much to write about...so much to get down on paper. But life's cruel. I also couldn't go on the computer to chat online and e-mail people. And that's my life! Computer and Writing...the two things I definitely couldn't live without. So I felt Billie Jo's pain and heartache and longing because I too had experienced something similar to what she was in the story.

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Summary: Out of the Dust Review
Review: Out of the Dust was a good book because we get a feel on how people lived during the Great Depression and in the Dust Bowl. Life wasn't easy and Billie-Jo showed us in our minds how hard it was. From having to wash everything from a dust storm to having to let your cattle and chickens die because the dust has clogged up their lungs and they have no use. The author, Karen Hesse, also used descriptive and emotional scenes that really catches the readers mind exp. when Billie-Jo threw the burning pail of kerosene at her mother, who was pregnant. She described her as "A column of fire". Also when Billie-Jo had to live with her father and the memories of her mother that were eating her from the insides because of her conscience. I thought how Billie-Jo's father blamed her for her mothers death was very cruel. Especially since he was the one who left the pail of burning kerosene by the stove. I thought he was mostly responsible. Parts that I didn't like of the book, were parts when Karen Hesse got so into details that those horrible images go to your head and didn't get out. It's good that she can teach us something by a great novel, but the truth is so harsh that sometimes you wonder why anyone can write about such a sad time. But I guess we should find out how life in Oklahoma was, since it's our past, and the past of others. I liked the way Karen Hesse used a poetic format for her novel, I thought it was creative and smart. Billie-Jo found love and happiness for a while, I thought that was a good part that Karen Hesse out in, since most of Billie-Jo's life and been a tragedy, it was a good balance in the book. I would recommend the book to anyone who likes life's harsh tales of life's grief ways to make people sad, but life's way of making us find ourselves. I also think our teacher made a very good choice by selecting this book for us to read, it gave us an in depth look on what we need to know about the Great Depression and about good literature. In conclusion, Out of the Dust was a great, descriptive and astonishing book that enlightened us on good writing and our past.

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Summary: Out of the Dust
Review: The book Out of the Dust is a book about a girl that has some problems. Not meaning that is bad because it had exciting parts in all parts of the book. Some that you won't even think would happen during the time of the Depression or the Dust Bowl.
This book is an inspiring book to me. That is why I gave it a 5 Stars. It shows that times were hard and that people were trying to live their way but it was difficult. And people didn't give up even though it was hard times. Billie Jo thinks like I do. She writes about her life in a big free verse poem and doesn't leave out any important things.
Billie Jo was an only child and her mother was pregnant with a boy. Now you might think that what I have told you so far, you would think that life was nice for Billie Jo and her family. Well.... it wasn't. Even though life was tough everyone still enjoyed it and had their ups and downs.
The author, Karen Hesse did a wonderful job through out the whole book with all of the events that happened. After you started to settle down after one surprising incident, another one would pop up. She had a very good way of describing everything so the book could be understood by younger children.
Her father is someone that doesn't care about people that much. That also follows for her mother. Billie Jo on the other hand doesn't follow to that. She likes to tell everyone what is going on about her and all of the exciting things that happened to her. There are some characters that pop in and out of the book and when they do they make an appearance.
In conclusion, Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse is a great book for all ages. Billie Jo tells her life in one big free verse poem and that is what is really exciting about the book that an author like Karen can come up with a poem that also at the same time can tell about the life of a girl during the Depression and the Dust Bowl. Just remember, when you are calming down after one surprise there might be one coming right around the corner!!

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Summary: Out of the Dust Review
Review: Out of The Dust was a great book about the Great Depression and all the dust storms that occurred in Oklahoma. I had felt some deep connections about the book. Like how it was to have a mother die, I went through that same feeling when a close relative died. You really feel lost. When I read the part about Billie throwing the fire on her mom, It was like I could feel the fire burn in my heart. I winced in pain for Billie, her mom and Family. Doesn't that happen to you when you read a book that has pain in it? For example when I read about how hard it was for Billie when her dad didn't talk to her. I was in anguish, I felt guilty eve though I wasn't a part of the book. I still felt like I was alive and apart of the action. I hated the parts when (this doesn't mean I hate the book) Billie just looked at her dad after all the gossip that was going on in town of how her was going crazy. That reminded me of when I had a friend that everyone disliked but me, the all said that she was crazy weird and other obscene words. I really felt guilty because i didn't stand up for her. I really liked the connection with the piano, music always heels the soul. I was think about like in the book how all the dust represented guilt and that piano and other things that were being dirtied by the dust were the lost souls. I connected that thought to the part in the end where Billie wiped the Dust off the piano to start new . The piano represented her mom. Now she won't feel as guilty as she did about killing her mom. What parts of the book will I always remember and think about? Most definitely the parts with Billie plays the piano, when ever I play the piano or any type of music I always feel calm a pleasant. Maybe this sooths Billie and her mind. I noticed that when ever Billie played the BLUES she was sad, when ever Billie played Jazz or stuff like that she was happy. Et cetera. I do just the same, when ever I feel really sad or mad or guilty of something I play Slow songs or my favorite band, when ever I'm happy it's good dancing music(Rock, Rap, DreamStreet,POP,Country, all of the above) when I'm bored it's what ever. I know a lot of people that listen to music to help them think and act. Maybe that's what Billie to think and act. In conclusion, I think that the book has some real great connections about the Great Depression and what life was like in the 1930's, and how everyone coped with that. I really enjoyed reading the book, I hope that other young and old readers pick up the book and start to read it!!!