Book Review: Out of the Dust

DD#2's English teacher assigned this book to the 7th Grade class. The author, Karen Hesse, won the 1998 Newberry Medal for this book. Written in blank verse from the viewpoint of 14-y.o. Billie Jo, this book covers 1932-1934 in Oklahoma, during the Dust Bowl years of the Depression. The blank verse was unexpected, but it works well to keep Billie Jo's commentary stark, unadorned, and unsentimental. (Whether a 14-y.o. would write blank verse in the 1930's is another question.)

Out of the Dust presents a view of life our modern children don't see: a time before television and indoor plumbing. Life was hard but most people just forged ahead, living one day at a time. The text goes well with the Depression-era pictures taken by photographers for the Farm Security Administration.

The story is not entirely bleak and ends on an optimistic note, which I think is important in a book geared to middle schoolers.

March Hare Rating System: 4 bookmarks