Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

1. Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

2. Summary of Out of the Dust A poem cycle that reads as a novel, Out of the Dust tells the story of a girl named Billie Jo, who struggles to help her family survive the dust-bowl years of the Depression. Fighting against the elements on her Oklahoma farm, Billie Jo takes on even more responsibilities when her mother dies in a tragic accident. A testament to the American spirit, this novel is an instant classic. This gripping story, written in sparse first-person, free-verse poems, tells of Billie Jo's stoic courage, as she learns to cope with the loss of her mother and her grieving father's slow deterioration. There is hope at the end when Billie Jo's badly burned hands are healed, and she is able to play her beloved piano again. The 1998 Newbery Medal winner. (Scholastic)

4. Dust and Rain On Sunday, winds came, bringing a red dust like prairie fire, hot and peppery, searing the inside of my nose, the whites of my eyes. Roaring dust, turning the day from sunlight to midnight. And as the dust left, rain came. Rain that was no blessing. It came too hard, too fast, and washed the soil away, washed the wheat away with it. Now little remains of Daddy’s hard work. And the only choice he has is to give up or start all over again. At the Strong ranch they didn’t get a single drop. So who fared better? Ma looks out the window at her apple trees. Hard green balls have dropped to the ground. But there are enough left; enough for a small harvest, if we lose no more. June 1934 (Page 46-47)

5. First Rain Sunday night, I stretch my legs in my iron bed under the roof. I place a wet cloth over my nose to keep from breathing dust and wipe the grim tracings from around my mouth, and shiver, thinking of Ma. I am kept company by the sound of my heart drumming. Restless, I tangle in the dusty sheets, sending the sand flying, cursing the grit against my skin, between my teeth, under my lids, swearing I’ll leave this forsaken place. I hear the first drops. Like the tapping of a stranger at the door of a dream, the rain changes everything. It strokes the roof, streaking the dusty tin, ponging, a concert of rain notes, spilling from gutters, gushing through gullies, soaking into the thirsty earth outside.

6. Mr. Kincannon hires my father to pull his Olds out of the muck on Route 64. And later, when the clouds lift, the farmers, surveying their fields, nod their heads as the frail stalks revive, everyone, everything, grateful for this moment, free of the weight of dust. January 1935 (Page 104-106) Monday morning dawns, cloaked in mist. I button into my dress, slip on my sweater, and push my way off the porch, sticking my face into the fog, into the moist skin of the fog. The sound of dripping surrounds me as I walk to town. Soaked to my underwear, I can’t bear to go through the schoolhouse door, I want only to stand in the rain. Monday afternoon, Joe De La Flor brushes mud from his horse,

7. Extension 1. One review of the book Out of the Dust says it, has, “a glimpse of beauty wrought from brutal reality.” Give an example of both the glimpse of beauty and the brutal reality described in these poems. 2. Identify an example of personification. What is being personified? How? 3. Contrast the tone of the two poems. What is different about the author’s attitude? 4. What is your favorite use of imagery in these poems?