Out of the Dust. By Karen Hesse. 1999. P.
Newbery Medal, 1998.
Full of dark and evocative imagery, Out of the Dust is the
story of Billie Jo, a 12-year-old farmer’s daughter living in Dust Bowl
Oklahoma during the Great Depression. Only child Billie Jo lives with her
mother and father in a small tight knit rural town where they eke out a
hardscrabble existence. While drought and starkness dominate the countryside,
Billie Jo’s piano playing and the impending arrival of a new baby are causes
for hope in her life. But when a tragic and gut wrenching accident destroys both
of these, Billie Jo and her father are thrown into a maelstrom of grief and
guilt that rivals the vicious dust storms that rage across the prairies.
In free verse poems, Hesse relates their stories crafting haunting
visuals that stay with the reader long after the book is finished. Through the
unrelenting anguish, there are small glimmers of hope that appear in the love
and compassion that humans show each other in times of tragedy. An excellent
and moving work of historical fiction.
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