Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Billie Jo and her parents are struggling to survive. There is no money. The farm has had no rain. Worst of all, storms are blowing across the land, raining dust on everything.

And then, in the midst of all the suffering, comes tragedy: Billie Jo’s mother and tiny baby brother die in a horrible accident. A difficult life becomes impossible.

A grim, bleak novel, yes, but a novel that has stayed with me since I first read it ten years ago, a novel that is just as good the second time as it was the first.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

1998 Newbery Winner

The dust bowl is hard for Billie Jo and her family, but they still have each other, and Billie Jo can lose herself by playing the piano. Then an accident occurs, and everything changes. Bereft of so many things important to her, Billie Jo struggles to deal with the circumstances she finds herself in.

The word that comes to mind when I think of this book is “raw”.

I don’t mean like unpolished, or any of that stuff. I mean, it almost hurts to read it. None of the words are wasted, and as such, they pack a powerful enough punch to knock you down. The emotions aren’t excessive, but they’re so undiluted that they sort of take your breath away.

I’m slightly allergic to books written free verse. After all, why write a book with all those funny little lines when you could just put them in perfectly nice paragraphs? Much more organized. I won’t say that this book won me over to free verse, but I will say that I don’t think this book would have been nearly as good had it not been written in free verse. So if you, like me, are a little worried about the format of this book, I would give it a try anyway. I think most would like it.

(By the way, this is my first post here. Hi everyone!)

Dust

I was intrigued by Flusi's post on Out of the Dust, the 1998 winner by Karen Hesse. Every time I read poetry, I wonder why I don't read more of it, because I enjoy it so much. I was probably the only person in my high school literature class that liked the "introduction to poetry" text so much that I went and bought my own copies of Leaves of Grass and the Spoon River Anthology. But in the years since then, although I've read a lot, poetry hasn't made up much of what I've read.

Hesse's book didn't disappoint me - the poems are beautiful, and haunting, and describe a time and a place (Oklahoma's panhandle in the early 1930's) so well that I really felt transported. The things that Hesse writes about - dust, over and over again, throughout the book, gritty and heavy and so pervasive - but also pregnancy, horrible accidents, rain, apples, music, and the longing to run away - they really tell a very powerful story. In that respect Out of the Dust reminded me of those intertwined stories in the Spoon River Anthology. And Billie Jo? She's more than a little like an older Caddie Woodlawn, with her red hair, different conflicts with her parents, and her independent nature.

I do think that Out of the Dust is better for kids on the older edge of the Newbery award readers - like a few other books I've read recently (like The Birchbark House, and A Thousand Splendid Suns), the sudden death and grief in Out of the Dust are not "easy" topics, for either adults or kids.

But the beauty, redemption, and hope (in all of the books above, actually) make them so worth it.

Almost Rain

It almost rained Saturday.
The clouds hung low over the farm.
The air felt thick.
It smelled like rain.

In town,
the sidewalks
got damp.
That was all.

November 1934 (p. 88)

Out of the Dust

I was drawn to this book by the cover which is a photo by Walker Evans. I am a big fan of his work which is an integral part of one of my favorite books, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, dealing with the poor farmers of the New South. I actually read this book about two months ago and then again this week. It is written in free verse and a very quick, but moving, read.

14 year old Billie Jo narrates this fictional account of one family's experiences during the 1930s in the Oklahoma dust bowl. The sorrows and hopes of the family come to life as Billie Jo attempts to escape from her harsh reality. The free verse used by author Karen Hesse almost makes you taste and feel the grit in your mouth. The book was also awarded the Soctt O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.

Interestingly enough, the day I brought this book home, my husband brought home Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. I have read only the first few chapters of this work and it validates the narrative presented by Hesse. One interesting fact that I remember from Egan is that more dirt was moved in the dust bowl than in the creation of the Panama Canal. Amazing (and forgive me if I have the wrong canal, but the dirt moved in digging any canal is more than I want to breathe)!

Billie Jo has the same thoughts and dreams as any young female. Her verses are named and one of my favorites ends like this:

I do as she says. I go to school,
and in the afternoons I come home,
run through my chores,
do my reading and my math work at the
kitchen table
and all the while I glare at Ma's back with a scowl
foul as maggoty stew. (29)

I remember this look both as a child and as a mother! Just one more thing - Hesse provides a wonderfully simple portrayal of birthing in the school house which should remind us all how natural birth is as a process. This book seems to touch all emotions and I think shows perseverance over hardship and sadness. Very quick and informative read.

Flusi