Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Out of the Dust (Scholastic Gold) (Newbery Medal Book)

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I Gets Better

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2015

I am 11 years old so don't judge my review. When It started i was a little new to this style of reading. When I read books all the way from first grade magic treehouse to Harry Potter they all have styles that they have been written like. I think this author aimed for a more detailed writing. Along the story I was interested about this style I have been reading and outlining random occasions but detailing them greatly I was confused at first but as I went along it got better as I had a better understanding of the style the author was trying to write and it was great. I have had a great time reading this book and strongly recommend this to everyone, well except maybe 4 year olds. Parents they'll drive you crazy with question. But great book. Deserves a lot!

66 people found this helpful

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C. Cook

Sad story

Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2015

Recommended by friends who are reading teachers, but I later found out it is a depressing story--too old for my almost 9 and 10 year old grandchildren. I told their moms to put it away for a few years.

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From the United States

Cecille D Desai

I Gets Better

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2015

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66 people found this helpful

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Madison T. Edwards

6th Grade - Good Story

Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2017

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My son read this in 6th grade and I thought it was a very unique way to tell a story. My son found the reading very interesting and he asked plenty of questions about the stories and characters. Hesse wrote this novel in a very unique way, she chose to tell the story in sparse first-person, free-verse poems. This novel takes place in Oklahoma around 1934-1935 about the struggles families in Joyce City faced surrounding the dust bowls. The main character, Billie Jo's tells of the personal struggle to survive during the Depression. Billie Jo learns to cope with the loss of her mother and her father's deterioration.

13 people found this helpful

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EDU 320 Book Review

Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2018

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Out of the Dust tells the story of fourteen-year-old girl Billie Jo, who must learn to navigate life in the midst of the 1930’s Dust Bowl which has taken a toll on her small town in Oklahoma. Billie Jo lives with her father and pregnant mother. Billie Jo’s family is the picture of perseverance, surviving through relentless dust storms, failing farms, and crippling poverty, refusing to give up and head west as many families around them are doing.

Billie Jo’s love and talent for playing the piano carries her through the darkest of times, until a tragic accident involving herself and her mother disables her from playing. Navigating a now strained relationship with her father without the piano to comfort her, Billie Jo struggles to find her place in a life that seems too hard to manage. When home seems like the darkest and most hopeless place to be, Billie Jo sets out in search of another life, but to her own surprise she finds that maybe home is where she was always meant to be.

Written as a series of poems from Billie Jo’s perspective, author Karen Hesse intimately connects readers to the hardships of life living in the Dust Bowl and makes us yearn for rain and new beginnings just as Billie Jo does. Hesse’s use of verse drives this novel with descriptive details and real emotion, successfully investing readers in the book’s themes of hardship and perseverance. Hesse’s book serves as a historical lesson about the reality of life for a group of Americans living during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, and provides readers with a real lesson that running away from problems is never the way to fix them.

8 people found this helpful

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TinaM

... a fascinating way of telling the story of a terrible time in our nation's history

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2017

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Such a fascinating way of telling the story of a terrible time in our nation's history. The Dust Bowl era is something that wasn't covered in nearly enough depth when I went through school, so this book was a great introduction to the topic as my own children studied it in homeschool. Hesse's story is told in a way that makes it feel that the main character is writing poetry or journal entries. It feels very authentic and brings out all emotions for the reader. Provided a great opening to explore the history around the Dust Bowl and Depression. I highly recommend it.

7 people found this helpful

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Out of the Dust

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2021

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My high school aged niece has always been a reluctant reader. Librarian me gave her a book or two each month last year. I selected books from the Newbury Medal Award given each year for the best children's/young adult book for a given year. I wanted her to learn about those periods of history that aren't found in her history textbooks and societal problems she wouldn't normally think about. Out of the Dust is a story of a girl who lived during the Dust Bowl during the Depression of the 1930's. That time in history isn't in any of her social studies text books. We had an engaging discussion about the book.

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fascinating story with true incidents and basis

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2012

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This award winning book, published in 1999, tells a fascinating story in an amazing way. When my friend Margie called and said I am bringing you a book you absolutely must read, and told me the title, I said, "Isn't that a Scholastic book for students?"
"Yes," she replied "and you are going to love it."
She was right.
I read the book through in a couple of hours that night, then went back and read it again, slowly.

The book is written in free verse, which is so appropriate as 14-year-old Billie Jo talks about the free-floating sand and dust on her family's dirt-scratching Oklahoma wheat farm during the 1930s dust bowl.
The youngster stoically copes with one loss after another and finds no one to confide in. Billie Jo's mother is absorbed in her long-desired pregnancy, and Billie Jo's silent father seems to think only of the soil, growing plants and digging a hole to retain water.

The piano in the living room of their tiny house becomes a focal point, demonstrating that some beauty was able to peek through those dismal dust-filled days. Billie Jo learns to play the musical instrument from her talented mother, and makes a name for herself at school. The three are looking forward to the baby's arrival, when another disaster strikes.

While many of their neighbors begin heading west as the fierce dust storms force them out, Billie Jo's father says they have lived through hard times before and they are staying put no matter what. Her mother accidentally splashes a pail of kerosene while making tea and runs screaming out the door from the resulting flames. Billie Jo grabs the pail and throws it out the door --- just as her mother rushes back inside. Altho Billie Jo tries to beat out the flames with her hands, it is a futile effort. Her mother is fatally wounded and a few days later the long awaited baby is stillborn, adding to Billie Jo's grief. Also Billie Jo's hands are so burned and scarred she can no longer play the piano.

Billie Jo is so overcome with guilt, shame, and grief she finally runs away only to discover how much she needs her father and the farm. The book ends on a happy note with her father able to tell her that he loves her, a friendly neighbor begins bringing them food and makes her father smile again.
-----------------------------

The big surprise for me was learning the author was not writing her own biography, because she made it so believable. Karen Hesse lived in Baltimore and only drove through the Great Plains area. Then she began researching the dust bowl years and many of the stories in this book are taken directly from newspaper items of the day. I have recommended this book to everyone I know.

13 people found this helpful

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Sarah Williams

A Many Layered Must Read

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2013

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This book is beautiful! If you read Out of the Dust and The Grapes of Wrath, you see historically how they match. The neat thing about reading these two books is that Out of the Dust shows a family who stayed to weather the results of the Dust Storm and The Grapes of Wrath is an account of a family that fled to seek solace and work in California. Then if you listen to Woodie Guthrie's songs about the dust storm, you'll find how acutely his lyrics follow Karen Hesse's story line. Furthermore, if you look at the documentary Surviving the Dust Storm, you'll find even more similarities. I used to teach the two novels and love both of them. Karen Hesse's poetry is intriguing, so wonderful to analyze as well as to read. The characters, so well drawn, are so real and so touching. I want to read it over and over. A myriad of ages can enjoy this book and on many levels. If you are a teacher, this book is a must-teach. I taught it on the 9th grade level. It lends itself so well to symbolism, to tone, to figurative language, to imagery.

6 people found this helpful

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Robin Lee Kovacs

This book (another recommended by my grandson) is told as a series of ...

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2018

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This book (another recommended by my grandson) is told as a series of poems about a young girl's life during the Dust Bowl years. It touches on the hard times and the tragedies but also shows how the people and the times weren't entirely bad & sad. Many of the stories are about how good things happen, too.
I definitely recommend this one to adults as well as younger people.

One person found this helpful

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S. Werkema

Beautifully written and filled with meaning

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2019

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Out of the Dust is a serious story, told in free verse by fourteen-year-old Billie Jo, who lives in Oklahoma during the dust-bowl years of the 1930s. On top of the hardships of daily life, Billie Jo suffers tragedies that shred her inside and out. Her profound sadness, her near loss of hope, her gradual return to embracing life, make for a powerful and emotional read. There is depth to this story and beauty in the writing.

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Kylee Paakkonen

Great Preteen Read

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2020

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This is perfect for preteen book lovers. I first read this book in maybe 5th grade and was so affected by it that 20 years later I still vividly remember many of the scenes and haven’t forgotten any of the character names. I decided to read it again because I loved it so much as a kid. It was a very quick, easy read, but it was still very moving. It’s an amazing resource for kids to learn about how children their own age have struggled.

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Out of the Dust (Scholastic Gold) (Newbery Medal Book)

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