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May 22, 2011

Kwesi 章英狮 rated it:

I never enjoyed my history subject when I was young, I always have the worst teacher and the worst field trips in my entire life. Contradict to that, I enjoyed reading historical fiction and children's books. Although I don't have any idea about dust bowl or the great depression or whatever happened that time. I told you, I never learned something from my world history teacher. But after reading this book last year, I was amazed that Karen Hesse wrote something emotional for children to love and More...

10 comments like (11 people liked it)

Apr 11, 2011

K.D. rated it:

This story is so dark and gruesome that if it were put in prose and not in verse, would probably not pass the standard of the judges for the Newberry Medal. Yes, this won that medal (1998) because the beautiful verses toned down the gloom and sadness that even a middle-age man Asian guy like me felt while imagining what happened to the Kelby family during the Oklahoma Dust Bowl in 1934-1935. It is just too sad that even the harrowing experience of the Joad family in John Steinbeck’s magnum opus, More...

15 comments like (18 people liked it)

May 27, 2011

jzhunagev rated it:

Because of Dust
(A Book Review of Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust)

Since reading John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, I’ve often wondered how life could’ve been to the Oklahoman farmers and families who opted not to leave their land. Karen Hesse, in her 1998 Newbery Medal book Out of the Dust, gives us a glimpse of the rigors of farm life in the Depression-era, Dust Bowl Oklahoma through the eyes of Billie Jo as her father scrapes a meager living out of the parched, drought-stricken f More...

14 comments like (6 people liked it)

May 25, 2008

Connor rated it:

This book is so depressing I wanted to shoot myself.

4 comments like (8 people liked it)

May 21, 2008

Lisa rated it:

This book is set in the Oklahoma panhandle during the 1930's. Preteen Bille Jo and her family struggle to cope with the loss of their farm, scarcity of food, and the endless swirling dust storms that dominate life in this setting. Then tragedy strikes; Billie Jo's mother and baby brother are killed in a sudden accident and Billie Jo's hands are seriously burned. Billie Jo's father withdraws into grief and depression while Billie Jo wrestles with her own guilt and physical disability. Ultimat More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2008

Donna rated it:

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1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2009

karrie's corner rated it:

It's hard to believe that Oklahoma was a dust bowl in the '30s, because it doesn't seem to be that way now. Towns, buildings, population and changes in the environment seem to left the dust bowl, well, in the dust.

Billie Jo tells the story of her life as a young girl living during the Depression in the dust bowl. Her descriptions of dust outlining her body as she slept, being in her food as she eats dinner, and making her eyes feel gritty leaves the reader feeling as if you're there. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 23, 2008

Tyson rated it:

Maybe I would like this more if I read it now on my own. As it is, I read it in high school and hated every second of it. Most depressing thing I've ever read in my life. I understand that living in the Oklahoma dust bowl would be horrible but that's not the depressing part...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2008

Panagiota rated it:

My notes: This book is well written because the reader is endulged in life during the Great Depression. Billie Jo's family goes through many hardships and has to figure out how to live with great trajedies. It is a very insightful book. I would definitely use this book complementing another book about the Great Depression. The book is written in a series of many poems about Billie Jo and her family. I really liked the pages where when you turn the book, it's a set of piano keys that Billi More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 19, 2008

Beth rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 09, 2009

Katie rated it:

Billie Jo is coming of age in Dust-torn Oklahoma, where things like playing piano and occasionally glimpsing an art exhibit brighten a lifestyle otherwise constantly browned by layers of dust. Her life changes drastically when an kerosene accident scars her piano-hands and kills her mother and soon-to-be baby brother. Through the filter of dust and hardship around her, Billie Jo comes to terms with her new life, learning not to let go of dreams and that you can stay in one place and still grow. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 14, 2009

Sarah rated it:

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2009

Dena rated it:

Wow - I picked it up because my neice Molly had written in a letter that she was reading it. I treated myself to a trip to the library on New Year's Eve when I got out of work several hours early and picked it up. When I paged through it, I wasn't enthused because it was written in poetic prose format. Didn't think I'd like it. I was wrong. It was a fantastic story and told in a remarkable way. Sadness, grief, frustration, hopelessness and then hope. Pretty heavy stuff for adults let alon More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2009

Natalie rated it:

teenager survives the dust bowl. Written in poetry form with sparse language usage. Very powerful, sad, hopeful, etc. LOVED IT!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

Jane added it

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse is story about a young girl names Billie Jo. Billie is being faced with dramatic tragedies going on in life. The story is in the Oklahoma dust bowl during the Great Depression about Billie Jo’s life. Billie Jo and her family are struggling with the loss of their farm, which in turn is a loss of a lot of food supply and also dealing with the dust storms that are happening. On top of that, her mother and brother are killed in an accident and her father falls into a d More...

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Feb 09, 2012

Kelly rated it:

Out of the Dust was a wonderful book written in simple poetry verses and seemed like diary entries. The diary entries made me feel closer to the character, made me feel what she felt, see what she saw. The characters in this book like simpletons living in the 1930s in the rural mid-west, but as the plot unfolds you realize so much more about them. Although Billie Jo sometimes felt under-loved by her mother, she found out after her mother's death that her mother had been saving money for her to g More...

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Feb 05, 2012

Katie rated it:

“Out of the Dust” is the story of Billie Jo, a young girl living in the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. Billie Jo’s father is a farmer, and her family suffers through the droughts and dust storms. When a terrible accident occurs, Billie Jo and her father must face heartbreak while doing their best to stay on their feet and make it through such a financially and emotionally desperate time.

The novel is written in verse, and the flow and sound is appropriate for the mood of the po More...

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Feb 01, 2012

Kimber rated it:

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse is a book of poetry from the first person view of Billie Jo. She is an 8th grade girl living in the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma in the Great Depression, making her way through life in school and playing piano to earn money for her mother and father. Billie's mother is pregnant and nearing her due date when a terrible accident occurs, eventually killing her mother and her unborn brother. The book tells of her and her father's relationship and their struggles following thi More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 27, 2012

Kristina rated it:

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
Engl 420
Read in January 2012
Required

Out of the Dust is a heartwrenching compelling story. Written in a unique prose, Hesse tells the story of Billi Jo through a poetic narrative. Fourteen year old Billi Jo finds herself smack in the middle of the dust bowl during The Great Depression. Her family's wheat crop is failing and all around her community is forced to unite together to overcome the hunger and the never ending raging storm of du More...

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Dec 12, 2011

Jordan rated it:

Billie Jo and her family live in Joyce City, Oklahoma. Her daddy always wished he would've had a son to help him work on the farm, but instead they had a girl. Billie Jo is being raised to work on the farm and do chores. Billie Jo is known for her big hands, which she partly got from working on the farm with her father. When she was little her mother taught her how to play piano, but once the dust storms started coming her mother got so annoyed with Billie Jo playing the piano. Billie Jo thinks More...

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Dec 11, 2011

Cat rated it:

Title: Out of Dust
Author: Karen Hesse
Year: 2005
ISBN: 9780439771276
Type: Book
Genre: poetrry, fiction
Length/Pages: 256
Publisher/studio: Scholastic Inc
Age: 12 and up
Annotation/Teaser: There's one thing that Billie Jo really loves in life. It's playing the piano, but a tragic accident burning her hands and losing her mother and newborn brother
Plot:
Billie Jo a 14 years old girl, leaves in Oklahoma. Her mother died in a fire accident More...

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Nov 20, 2011

Patrice rated it:

I couldn't resist reading this book, though entirely written in small poems.

The Walker Evans photograph on the front of the cover is what initially attracted me. The photograph, a silver gelatin print from the FSA days of depression era America, is a stark black and white portrait of a girl in 1936 Alabama. After having read this novel, it's no wonder it won the Newbery Medal in 1997.

This book begins in Oklahoma during the winter of 1934. The first poem is the story of More...

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Nov 15, 2011

Carson rated it:

The book was ok, but it was really depressing and kind of repetitive.

My favorite part would of been when it finally rained and they could farm a little longer and the pond filled up. The reason that was my favorite was that that one part wasn't depressing.

Characters: Billie Joe was the main characeter and story teller. She was tall with read hair, she loved playing the piano and eating apples. Everything in her life seems to go wrong and she wants to get out of the dust ( More...

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Oct 27, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: 1998 Newbery Medal
Age Group: Intermediate

Summary: Told as a series of poems through the eyes of 14 year old Billie Jo, this book described how hard life was for Oklahoma farmers during the dust storms of the 1930's. Life is decent for Billie Jo. She has a talent for playing the piano, apples to eat and a baby brother on the way. Everything sours when both her mother and day old brother die after a kerosene fire. Billie Jo gets badly burne More...

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Sep 27, 2011

Jeffrey rated it:

This historical fiction is about a young girl named Billie Jo and her family living in Oklahoma. The events of the novel revolve around her family and the struggles they face during the Dust Bowl of the United States. While reading this novel, I found myself deeply moved by the events that take place and found them heart wrenching at times. I can only imagine going through those events or trying to live in Oklahoma at the time. The novel’s free verse form also supports the tone, imagery, and th More...

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Sep 26, 2011

Sarah rated it:

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Most of the time when I think of the Dust Bowl, I think of The Grapes of Wrath, so it was refreshing to read about it from the perspective of a young girl who isn't actually a migrant farmer. I was impressed not only with the story itself and the challenges Billie Jo has to overcome, but the style in which the book is presented. Written in free verse poetry, the story is pieced together through poems written, a few per month, during great hardship. The th More...

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Sep 26, 2011

Kirby rated it:

I couldn't have more positive things to say about this book. It literally brought me to tears. It is SO tragic that I couldn't help but place myself in their shoes and wonder what I'd do. The loss of Ma was particularly heartbreaking.

I think the reason it spoke to me the most was because it was verse. Her language was so poetic; it created images that I had never considered. Two of my favorite lines: "Under their words a finger pointed" (71) and the other, "I couldn't g More...

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Sep 26, 2011

Vpharis rated it:

I vaguely remember reading this book ages ago, and really, the title and cover were the only things I could remember about it. It was a pleasant surprise to open up and see that the entire story consisted of poems. Not only was it easy to read, but it made the story flow better than a standard novel narrative. I also loved how the poem structure echoed the event or emotions of the speaker. Some of the most heart-wrenching poem chapters were the shortest. For example, "Broken Promise" w More...

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Sep 26, 2011

Alyssa rated it:

Out of the Dust is a historical fiction about a girl, Billie Jo, living during the dust bowl. The novel is a bildungsroman that explores her struggles and her growth. The most interesting part of this book is probably the fact that it is written entirely in free verse. I listened to the audio recording of the book and enjoyed listening to the verse. I also thought that the audio was well done and helped me create a connection with Billie Jo. I think the overall concept of the book was good, More...

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Sep 24, 2011

Tayler rated it:

This historical fiction book, told in narrative poetry, is about a fourteen-year old girl named Billie Joe, living in Oklahoma during the Great Depression.

Billie Joe and her family suffer through dust storms and poor crops, but as a family, until the terrible accident that causes her mother to die. Now, Billie Joe suffers with her identity and relationship with her father and has to make the ultimate decision: to stay or to leave?

The first thing that caught my eye is that thi More...

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