Title: Out of the Dust
Author:Karen Hesse
Summary
From the moment I found out that our theme this week was over Historical Fiction, I knew just the book I was going to review for the Young Adult content. ¨Out of the Dust¨ has been a favorite of mine for a very long time. During my Junior year of High School, I had a very special Speech/Drama Coach introduce me to this novel. I was looking for something to use to perform in the Prose category. This categoty is pretty much an interpretation of poetry. The novel ¨Out of the Dust" qualified into the categoty of free verse poetry because it is written as daily journal entries by the main character Billie Jo Kelby. I made it all the way to the State Championship at Oklahoma University with my interpretation of a collection of entries from this novel. I have thoroughly enjoyed rereading this classic story, and taking a little trip down memory lane. The novel ¨Out of the Dust¨ is set during the time period of the Oklahoma Dust bowl at the time of the Great Depression. This book gives vivid details about the hardships that people experienced during this time. As a fellow Oklahoman, I think this book is a great addition to any classroom library because it depicts life in an era in our own great state. As I said earlier, the novel is written as journal entries from the main character Billie Jo Kelby. Billie Jo is a fourteen year old girl, and I will say in warning that she does experience many traumatic hardships during the course of the novel. Billie Jo explains in her entries about the dust storms during this time period and how it effects the crops. Billie Jo and her family experience financial trouble because of it all. One thing noteable about Billie Jo is that while she is a rough and tough tom boy she has a deep love for playing the piano. There are many side characters mentioned throughout the course of the book, but the other main characters in Billie Jo´s life are her Ma, and Father. Billie Jo´s Ma is pregnant during a major portion of the story. A main event that tragically happens during the novel is an accidental fire caused by a bucket of kerosene that is mistaken for water. Billie Jo´s hands are severely burned during this awful event by trying to help remove the kersone bucket to outside of the house. While trying to throw the burning pail out of the house, Billie Jo´s Ma was running in at this time and gets doused by kersone and engulfed in the flames. When I say this book has your biting your nails I truly mean it. This portion of the book frames a good part of the rest of the story. Billie Jo´s hands hinder her ability to play the piano, but with time and perserverance they do heal. However, life is still not so great for Billie Jo. Billie Jo´s Ma does survive the terrible fire incident, but she does not look like the person she always had been. However, later during child birth she dies along with the little boy that she beared. This book does not just have a fairy tale ending, but it does have closure that gives you hope for the main character and her father. Her father eventually meets another woman who I believe helps improve their situation. This book is one that will keep you engaged and give you a true perspective of just how hard times used to be for Oklahomans.
Classroom Activities
The novel ¨Out of the Dust¨ presents many opportunities for educational discussions both for whole group and small groups. If I were to teach this novel to a class, I would first give an introductory lesson about the history of Oklahoma during the time frame of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era. I would share pictures with students over what the land used look like during this time, so that they could have a deeper understanding over the concept. Personally because of my own history with performing the journal entries as my own interpretations, I think it would be fun to do something of that line of thinking with my own class. For an engaging and inclusive activity, I would separate the students into small groups and have them pick out their favorite or what they feel are most meaningful journal entries from the book and then take turns reading them with different voice inflections and their own personal spin on things. I think doing this would help them to identify with the main character and empathize with her situation. As I have said many times, I love this novel and I think it would be a great staple in any classroom.
