this book is great for childeren in the age of 8-120
Out of the Dust
(1997, Fiction - Historical fiction, Written by Karen Hesse)
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Is it age appropriate?
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Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
A penetrating look at a poor child's life.
Why We Rated This 
for Ages 9 and Up
What to watch out for
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Violence:
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Sex:
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Language:
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Consumerism:
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Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
What Parents Need to Know
This review of Out of the Dust was written by Megan McDonald
Parents need to know that this powerful and poignant tale set amid Oklahoma's "Dust Bowl" years is told entirely in free verse, which might pose a challenge for some readers. And although the writing is exceptional, the subject matter is relentlessly bleak; the book's joylessness might limit its appeal to young readers.
Families Can Talk About
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- Families can talk about the Dust Bowl in a historical context, focusing on the effect the severe storms had on the livelihood of working families. If you and your family were faced with the same conditions, do you think you could survive? Did hardship bring Billie Jo's family closer together -- or tear them farther apart? How did Billie Jo's relationship with her father change in the wake of her mother's death?
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More on Out of the Dust
Book Summary
A penetrating, gut-wrenching look at the seasons of discontent in Billie Jo's year, growing up in the wind, dust, drought, and heat of Dust Bowl-era Oklahoma. Billie Jo's is a faraway voice with immediate appeal in this foreboding, clenched fist of a novel. An umbrella of emotion weighs heavily over each sad event, true to the austere historical setting.
Is It Any Good?
Billie Jo narrates, in unfolding glimpses of story, a tale of death, destruction, dust, and the search for redemption that's written in the first-person, poetic, stanza form of Virginia Euwer Wolff's Make Lemonade. She describes her desolate internal and external landscape with a searing, brutal honesty. With uncompromising realism, the author shows life in the Dust Bowl taking one sad turn after another for this "redheaded, freckle-faced, narrow-hipped girl with a fondness for apples and a hunger for playing fierce piano."
The increasingly doleful progression of events hammers at the reader, nearly overwhelming the faint light of hope that appears at last in the form of a journey, a surrogate mother, and the promise of music that comes from the healing of Billie Jo's hands as well as heart.
Publisher’s Details
Publisher: Scholastic Inc., Publication date: 1/1/1997
Number of pages: 227, Price: $4.99 (paperback)
Read Alone: 9-12
Number of pages: 227, Price: $4.99 (paperback)
Read Alone: 9-12
Our Members Say
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Most Recent Reviews
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I rate this title on for age 8 and give it
Out of the dust
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I rate this title on for age 7 and give it
Out of the Dust
The book Out of the Dust is about a girl living durring the Great depression. Unfortunatly, She lives in Oaklahoma,smack dab in the middle of the Dust bowl. Billie Jo (the main character) is pretty lonely being an only child. Though her mom is expecting a baby. The only thing that keeps Billie Jo from feeling alone is playing the piano. Then one day Billie Jo's dad acsidentally leaves a bucket of kerosene by the stove. Billie Jo's mom mistakes it for water and pours it on the stove. It catches on fire she tries to though it out the door, but it hits he mom instead!her mom gets badly burnt and so are Billie Jo's Hands. Will she ever play piano again?
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I rate this title on and give it
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I rate this title off and give it
made my class sick
this is not a good book. not for young children!
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I rate this title on and give it
What's Great?........ This book
I loved all the drama in this book I think it really explains what it would be like back in that time. I though there was alot of drama in the book.I think the Dad of Billie Joe is the one who creats the most drama well he is drinking after the mother and son died. I feel that towns people also blame Billie Joe for poring the oil on the mother when she made a simple mistake. I was sad when Billie Joe ran away but somehow I knew she was going to go back because she couldn't just leave her fater there by himself. In the end everything turns out ok and that's what make's this book so speacial to me I mean that's why I read it every year now.
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