Book Post #21 Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Newbery Medal Award 1998

Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. 1997. 240pp. $6.50pb. Scholastic Press. 9780590371254

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse is a book that I use each year with my students.  It is super sad and some parts are hard to read, but it is a powerful depiction of the struggles of life during the Great Depression.  Although the story is historical fiction, Hesse does an excellent job of putting you into Billie Jo's shoes.  It is written in first-person point of view, free verse journal entries by our main character Billie Jo Kelby as she struggles to survive during the Great Depression in the panhandle of Oklahoma.  In the Dust Bowl life is hard, but it seems that Billie Jo and her family have more than their fair share of trouble, heartache, and sorrow.  Billie Jo loses her mother to an accidental fire and her hands are badly burned.  She can't play piano anymore and her almost non-existent relationship with her daddy is getting worse.  We follow Billie Jo as she struggles to cope with losing her ma and wanting to just be out of the dust. This is a compelling story of courage, relationships, and loss.  This would be a great novel to use when teaching a unit on poetry and it could also support social studies classes learning about the Great Depression/Dust Bowl.

Recommendation: Highly Recommended for Grades 4-6


Byline: Amy Sinnett, Graduate Student, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA.