Out of the Dust (1997) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 4 stars

“I really like this book! I like how it talks about what her feelings and thoughts are on what's going on in life. The protagonist plays piano just like me and I like how she enjoys that, playing piano is what makes her happy. It was very sad in the middle when very important people in her life died. Highly reccomended.”

• Rated 5 stars

“It is soooo sad. I normally don't cry during books, but I did this one. It is a really good book, I finished it in 2 nights. I recomend reading it.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Out of the Dust is the personal story of one family during the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma in the 1930s. The dust is destroying the family farm and making life difficult for Billie Jo, her family, and her community. Playing the piano is one of the few joys Billie Jo had. Life is made even worse when an accident leaves Billie Jo and her father to find a way to carry on.

Out of the Dust deals with themes of courage in the face of difficulty as the family deals with the dust and economic deprivations of the depression. It is also a story of forgiveness as Billie Jo and her father try to forgive each other for the accident that took part of the family. Music also plays a big role in the family--as a way to escape from and cope with the difficulties they face. This book would be an excellent addition to a historical fiction unit. Students could study the depression and the dust bowl while reading one family's personal story. The descriptions of the dust storms are very gripping and would add a lot to a study of this time period.

I enjoyed the book a great deal and especially liked the poetic form Karen Hesse used to tell the story. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“very good... the kid on the cover is the main character... and wants a sibling and gets one but then loses it after... along with the mom”

• Rated 4 stars

“I really enjoyed this historical fiction. The emotional subtly was outstanding, and the way I understood about the devastation of the Dust bowl. It also reminded me of that teenage ache to be somewhere else and something else. ”

• Rated 0 stars

“story told as a poem”

• Rated 5 stars

“Out of the Dust, written by Karen Hesse is a fictional account written in free verse. It chronicles Billie Jo's life as she grows up in the Oklahoma dust bowl. She has two loving parents, but must learn to live with just her dad in the aftermath of a terrible accident which claims her mother and still born brother. The text is moving and the setting is so clearly described, you can almost feel the dust blowing. It was interesting to read bits of history and fact through this tale which ends on a good note with a new beginning. I this this would be a perfect read for middle schoolers.

Themes: family, loss, survival, environment, the great depression
Curriculum Ties: the great depression, environmental impacts of farming practices, Oklahoma dust bowl and climate”

• Rated 4 stars

“A journal of a young girl, in the form of verse, which describes a dark time in our country's history. Billy Joe is a strong girl growing up in the Great Depression era during he dust bowl in Oklahoma. Is book is filled with the personal reflections of a simple but insightful girl who is filled with haunting memories, guilt, and loneliness. This story enables the reader to envision what life was like and how the dust filled every crack and crevice of people's lives. Her story is heartbreaking and shows tremendous strength and hope that things will get better.
Even though this book has been encountered on the shelves of elementary classrooms, I feel the the strong content would be disturbing for students under 12. This book would be best suited for middle or high school students who are more familiar with this time period or the tragedies that can and do happen during people's lifetimes.
In social studies this book could be used to study both the depression and the dust bowl. Students could create a newspaper for the time period and research economic, political, and social conditions.
In writing, students could create their own journal based on a difficult period of their own, or a made up character's life. Emphasis on how an author writes a character's inner thoughts could be a focus.”

• Rated 5 stars

“billie jo is the main charecter in this story its a girl that loves to play the piano she lost her mother during her bearth her dad named her like that because he wanted a boy she always said she was as close to him having a boy with her then anything due to the fact that she looked just like her father where she lived there where always horrible dust storms which she hated.
”

• Rated 5 stars

“This book is written in very short stanzas making it easy to read for lower level readers, yet the subject matter of the Great Depression is very real and draws the reader into the very lives of the people who lived through it. This particular story follows the life of Billie Jo, a young girl living with her parents on a struggling Oklahoma farm. Dust storms, dust pneumonia, grasshoppers, and tragedy threaten the little family's existence. Billie Jo is a talented pianist, like her mother, until a tragedy takes even that away and drives she and her father apart. it's not until renewed love overtakes them that they pull back together again and discover the true importance of family in times of hardship and need.”