Customer Reviews

Out of the Dust

5 star:		(420)
4 star:		(256)
3 star:		(105)
2 star:		(50)
1 star:		(35)

 

 

I am a middle school student and I must admit that I loved this book. I loved it a lot because it was in a kid's perspective, not an adult's. I never actually heard of "The Dust Bowl" until this book. Every other book on the Dust Bowl that I came across was in an ADULTS point of view. I had to read "Out of the Dust" for school and I won't lie, i thought that would be just another boring/bad book like always. But it wasn't, i really liked it.. It seemed so real, and I could actually understand what Billie Jo was going through even thought i've never been in something so tragic. I had to give this book the review it disurved. The form it was in was so unique, nothing like any other. It was in a poem form but at the same time like a diary entry. I thought it was really stupied and pointless, but it actually helped me get what was going on in some strange way. I honesty do give this book 5 stars, mayjor thumbs up :)

"Out of the Dust," written as a series of spare free-verse poems from the viewpoint of a Texas teenager during the 1930s, won the Newbery Award for 1998. My own reading of the book convinced me that the award was well-deserved.

Billie Jo's poems span a period of years filled with difficult experiences: poverty, unemployment, her mother's death in an accident, her own maiming in the same accident, her trouble communicating with her father. Her life is certainly not easy, her path almost never smooth. Yet, the poems radiate such a hope, even a joy at times, that the book never becomes depressing.

I think some of the images of this book will stick with me for a long time -- the family chewing their dust-laden milk, her mother's tent of pain, her father's smile at the dance, Billie Jo's first concert after recovering from her burns. Billie Jo is a survivor whose story is both thought-provoking and uplifting.

Reading an award-winner is tricky business. This book won the Newbery Medal in 1998. I have read nearly all of the Newbery winners and my rule of thumb for these (unlike some other, less worthy prizes) is that you can expect to read a very good book. This one is no exception. Of course, not even Newbery winners are all created equal. Some are truly great and some are kind of average. This one falls in the middle of this range--let's call it the "not quite truly great" category.

Let me say first off that I personally found this to be a wonderful book. I think it is interesting and moving. Though not generally a fan of the free verse/prose poem style Hesse uses in this "novel," I found that her words generated an emotional response that straight prose might have lessened. I was also surprised by how detailed this world became for me while reading what is a very sparse book. This shows real talent and stylistic strength.

On the other hand, though I believe strongly that the best books for children and young adults are equally readable by adults, sometimes an author shoots a little high for the primary readership. Hesse's book is wonderful for adults but a little difficult for younger readers. I was able to let myself be carried away by the beauty of this book because I already have a strong sense about the Depression, life on a farm, the Dust Bowl. A child, however, will struggle with this book because, though strong on feeling, it's short on background.

This is not to say that this book is without merit even for younger readers. Its style and emotion are worth a read for anyone, particularly since it is short enough to be read in very little time. In combination with a more historically oriented book or other background on the Depression, a young reader could get even more from this book. Without this, though, many younger readers will struggle with this book.

This is a wonderful book and I would encourage anyone of any age to read it. It's about a girl named Billy Joe who plays piano and lives with her family during the "Dust Bowl". The dust is flying everywhere, the wheat won't grow, and they are living in a run down farm house. The only nice thing Billy Joe and her mom have is the piano. When Billy Joe is at the piano there is no dust, it's just her and the keys. The only problem is that she plays a very different tune then her mom. Her mom does not like that style of music and sometimes doesn't let her perform. That's okay to Billy Joe though, because she loves her mom more than anything else.

Billy Joe's dad is a quiet guy that is just trying to grow some wheat. But, because of the dust no wheat will grow. Then, to make matters worse, a horrible accident happens. Her dad had left a bucket of kerosene on the stove, which her mom mistook for water. When she begins making coffee with it the pot bursts into flames. Billy Joe's mom quickly runs out of the house screaming for help. Billy Joe throws the kerosene out of the back door and it lands directly onto her mom. This was a complete accident which results in both Billy Joe and her mom being badly burnt. It is a very sad story, but a really good book. I also like how the words are written like a poem. Every one should read this book!

I am an 11 year old boy that plays the guitar, piano and baseball, and I love to draw. I would also recommend The Giver, Number the Stars, and The Hatchet.

Dust storms predominate in the life of Billy Jo, the fourteen-year-old narrator of Out of the Dust. The economic hardship that Billy Jo's family faces in Oklahoma during the Depression comes out in the beautiful free verse that Billy Jo writes in her journal. As her father stubbornly clings to his belief that "it's sure to rain soon/wheat's sure to grow", her mother grows heavier with child, and their economic woes grow more dismal. Billy Jo's consolation in the face of the desolation is the wonderful dexterity of her fingers on her mother's piano. Then, a horrible accident destroys her family, estranges Billy Jo from her father, and robs her of her piano playing skills. Life becomes unbearable and Billy Jo runs away from home, but a chance meeting makes her realize where her heart lies. The story is bleak as the forces of nature are powerful and the freak accident is terrible but Billy Jo's courageous spirit and the humor in her observations, "I hope we get bonus points/ for testing in a dust storm" prevent it from degenerating into pessimism. The author's technique of using short, economical lines of poetry reflects the frugal times and also creates the historical background to the story in a simple and uncomplicated manner. Out of the Dust is harsh in its realism, but it leaves the reader with a feeling of hope.

My daughter was allowed to borrow this book from her school library when she was 7 because she tested high on her SRI. She was sitting on the couch reading it with tears welling up in her eyes. I read the book, and it is a beautifully-written, powerful piece, BUT be careful. If your child is not ready for this emotionally, DO NOT allow her/him to read it. The baby and mom die horribly, the father withers away and the girl is racked with guilt and blame. It's not something you give lightly to a child of any age.

"And I know now that all the time
I was trying to get
out of the dust,
the fact is,
what I am,
I am because of the dust.
And what I am is good enough.
Even for me."

Billie Jo is a 14-year-old girl who lives in dry Oklahoma filled with constant dust storms. The drifts of dust come out of nowhere and bury everything: crops, tractors, Billie Jo's beloved piano, and even people's hopes.

"The way I see it, hard times aren't only
about money,
or drought,
or dust.
Hard times are about losing spirit,
and hope,
and what happens when dreams dry up."

Billie Jo won't let go of her hope and dreams - she is strong and endearing, even after the death of her mother in fire accident that also leaves her piano-playing hands in painful scars.
Her silent father is distant and lost in grief to see the struggle of his daughter. Nevertheless, he sincerely loves her in his own windblown, shy manner. At one point Billie Jo feels a desperate need of escaping the dust and going west with many other fleeing families.

"When I rode the train west,
I went looking for something,
but I didn't see anything wonderful.
I didn't see anything better
than what I already had.
Home."

She needed to see and feel for herself that she doesn't need to look for anything better, since she already has everything - she has her Home.
The sparse, free-floating verse is a perfect choice to reflect the mood and setting of the story. "Out of the Dust" is a deeply emotional and gut-wrenching novel, a winner of 1998 Newbery Award.

Julia Shpak
Author of "POWER OF PLENTIFUL WISDOM." Available on Amazon.

A book so evocative you'll feel grit and dust in your teeth for a week. Karen Hesse has taken the Dust Bowl and narrowed her focus to a single family living in Oklahoma in 1934. Through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Billie Jo, the reader is treated to a series of poems describing the catastrophic events that come from living in a world of dust. Each poem is a small masterpiece, slowly expanding to give the inhabitants of Billie Jo's small Okalahoma town depth and purpose. You meet families migrating west to California, bums on railroad tracks. There are abandoned babies and musicians with names like Mad Dog Craddock and the Black Mesa Boys. To read this book is to find yourself completely immersed in the Depression with Hesse's voice ringing true on every page. The form of this book is perhaps the most impressive. Pulling off a successful book with a plot made entirely in verse is incredibly difficult. Imagine trying to write convincing character development through poetry alone. Fortunately, Hesse is up to the challenge and goes above and beyond the call of duty. You're in safe hands with this adept author. Just don't feel surprised if you suddenly find yourself fighting urges to shower after every dust-thickened line.

"Out of the Dust" is wonderful, sad, and comedic all at the same time. Karen Hesse is an remarkable writer, especially in free verse poem style. To me, "Out of the Dust" sounded like it was written during the Great Depression, when I was reading the book I felt I was there; sharing the agony, sorrow, joy, bliss, everything there is to feel in this incredible novel.

Billie Jo Kelby, a long-legged, big cheek-boned, girl who loves apples and playing the piano faces an appalling accident in her family. Her life chages in the blink of an eye, making life seem unbearable and almost impossible to go on. On top of it all, Billie Jo has to face a horrible enemy; the dust that consumes her family and the whole towns lives. People never feel clean, wheat is impossible to grow (not to mention any other crop), cattle and livestock starve, and food is covered in dust.

After the accident people don't look at billie Jo the same, some hardly recoinize her after what happened. To make it worse her only passion, playing the piano ( which she got from her mother), is lost because she can no longer play. All that is left is to hope for rain in the long, dry drought.

Just like today, teenagers back in the 1930's faced almost the same problems. They dealt with blame, "`An accident,' they said. Under there words a finger pointed." They dealt with drunken fathers, "They didn't say a word about my father drinking himself into a stupor..." and for all those lonely girls out there, "Darn that blue-eyed boy with his fine face and his smooth voice...." Even though people back in the 1930's talked differently and lived in a whole lot of dust, they still had some of the problems to face as we do now.

I think the lesson in hiding for "Out of the Dust" was to appreciate life (and everything good in it) and keep a hold of the things you keep dear. Most people know the saying "you don't know what you got `till it's gone," and I think that applies for this particular story. Hey, but what do I know? I guess you'll just have to read the book to find out.

Billie Jo is a twelve-year-old girl living in the Oklahoma dust. She records her life in poem form, and she really lets you get a feel for what life must have been like. The dust brings sadness her poor family. If you lived on a farm, like Billie Jo, you would suffer also from the lack of wheat, since water is so scarce due to dust. Author Karen Hesse enforces the hardness of life in Oklahoma during the dust period.

I really enjoyed this book because it puts you in the shoes of someone whose life is VERY different and MUCH harder. It makes you feel like Billie Jo, you have to make decisions that are so much harder than nomral decisions, and each one could change your life.

Out of the DUST is a MUST! Even though it is incredibly sad, it is so wonderful that you cannot stop reading! Definitly a five-star read!