Out of the Dust

Out of the Dust

Out of the Dust

This is a very touching story written in all poetry. It features a lot of metaphors, like comparing her piano to her mother. I think this book is appropriate for ages 10-13 because you can relate to the characters better at that age. My favorite poem is "On Stage" on page 13 because I play piano and I know how it feels to be on stage. Some parts were boring, but overall I thought it was a good book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Book title and author: Out of the Dust by: Karen Hesse Title of review: Out of the Dust Number of stars (1 to 5):5

This book is about a 14 year old girl named Billy Jo who lives in Oklahoma where dust has no end. When she loses her mother and her unborn baby brother, she has to get through her life with just her father and her mothers piano.Billy Jo and her family live in Oklahoma where dust is a word that has no end. A tragic thing happens when her mother and her unborn baby brother get burned to death. Billy Jo tries to put out the fire but she ends up losing her hands and the one thing that she loves dearest, playing the piano. She struggles through life with nothing but her father, who doesn't have much to say since the death of his wife, and the fact that nothing is going right because nothing will grow in their farm, the animals are dying, and they have no money. Then her father falls in live with a young lady, named Louise, who is a very intelligent person. She changes the life of Billy Jo and her father by helping them find their true place in this world, Billy Jo at the piano and her father in Louise's heart.Billy Jo finds that she can still play the piano as long as she practices a lot and makes sure she works her hands. Her father falls in love with Louise and they end up living together.I thought that this book was one of the best and most heart felt stories I have ever read. It contained a lot of detail and it made you feel like you were in the story. I advise anyone who has the chance to read this book. You will never be able to put it down.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Book out of the dust

Out of the Dust is about a young girl named Billie Jo. She lives on the dry flat lands of Oklahoma with her mother and father. Her mother dies giving birth to what would have been her first sibling. Unfortunatly her new born baby brother dies also. What is wost is that the only thing to calm her done is to play the piano which she can't do because her hands are burnt. Her father does not talk to her any more and she can't get over her mother dieing. so she leaves her dad in the middle of the night to catch a trian. But after a few days she calls he dad and tells him were she is and that she is coming home on the next train. After that they were like a family again and there wheat started growing. Billie Jo ends up going to the doctor and her gives her medicine so she can use her hands again.

I would give this book 5 stars. I like it because you can really tell what the charectors are saying doing and feeling. It isn't a fairy tale or somthing like that it tells what happens in real life today. I feel like I am in the blazzing sun of running away with Billie Jo. I loved this book but make sure you have4 a box of tissues by your side.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

this is an awesome book

What I am going to talk about is how the book out of the dust. I am going to tell how Billie Jo life changes after her mom passes away after giving birth to her baby brother who dies after being born. I am also going to tell you how Billie Jo and her father try to overcome the great depression and the dust bowl. Then tell you how her life was when her mother got pregnant. I am also going to tell you the theme of this book.

In the story Billie Jo is a hard working girl like her mother. They work all day to keep the dust out of their home. Her mother is pregnant so that makes her work harder to do the stuff she can¿t. When her father finds out he prays for a boy to help him with the wheat. Billie is excited to get a new brother or sister. She covered the house with plastic to keep the dust off the beds and the living room furniture. During the night and covered the beds during the day. While her mom was pregnant Billie¿s father brought gas into the house for the stove while he was eating breakfast the gas spilled and burned Billie¿s hands bad and burned her mother too. The next week her mom went into the labor then the doctor sent Billie out of the room to get some water, then when she returned her mother and her brother where dead. Later that day her father buried her mom and her brother. They named him Franklin like her mom wanted. After that day her mom passed away Billie and her father barely made eye contact. He was busy with the wheat and she was busy with the house, and Billie Made breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was miserable with the dust Billie had to do cover the house to protect it from the dust.

The theme of this book is ¿always expect the unexpected.¿ I chose this as the theme because Billie and her father thought they were going to be a happy family of a new baby but they weren¿t. Then the wheat started to grow when everyone thought it would stay dead and not grow anymore. When Billie thought her mother was haunted her when it was all in her head. Then Billie thought that maddog didn¿t like her and that he hated her.
My conclusion is that I loved the book because it was heartwarming, sad, and so cool. I loved it because it talks about the past and I love reading books about the past. I loved the way Billie played the piano she was really good; I liked her better than her mama. I thought it was sad when her mother and her brother died. This book gets two thumbs up.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Okay and confusing

When i first heard we we're assigned this book for summer reading i thought it would be very boring. As i started reading it, however it was pretty good. The only thing i don't like about this book is that it's pretty hard to understand because of the way it was written. In every entry it like talked about sumthing else.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Billie Jo is a girl living in the Dust Bowl, in Oklahoma during

Billie Jo is a girl living in the Dust Bowl, in Oklahoma during the 1930s. She loves playing the piano, but it is difficult when her hands get burnt. Her dad leaves a pail of kerosene out, and it catches on fire. Billie Jo’s mom runs out to get the dad, but turns around and it’s too late Billie Jo has already thrown the kerosene on her mom. Billie Jo’s mom dies giving birth. She wants nothing more than to get away from all the guilt and dust.
I would recommend this book if you like stories about people’s lives in the past. I liked this book. The story was good, but I didn’t like the style/format it was written in. It was like a poem, with no complete sentences. The story, though, wasn’t bad. I liked how detailed it was. You could really feel her struggles, and how much she wanted to leave home. Billie Jo can’t seem to escape all the stares and whispers from people in town, talking about the fire and how she threw the pail on her mom. Nobody realizes it was a complete accident, she was just trying to put out the fire, and her dad was the one who left the kerosene out. Billie Jo has a lot of natural talent for playing the piano, she even gets third place at a talent show. A doctor gives her some ointment for her hands to heal from the fire, so playing the piano becomes fun again. She gets a letter from her aunt, inviting her to Texas, but she can’t decide if that is better than her home now.

Recommend

Tragic and touching story. One family's tragic story during the dust-bowl.
Well written.

Highly Recommended!

I recommended reading the book Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse because how Hesse portrays the life story of Billy Joe, the main character, is very intriguing and always keeps your attention. It¿s a good story of a family and their struggles during the dust bowl and also during the great depression. Karen explains very clearly the emotions of Billy; and the strength, love, and bravery this girl has as she is going through this life changing experience. I love how Hesse always is writing/ talking about in the book of how much hope Billy has for her family and her piano playing, even with her wounded hands. This book really touched me when, her mother died and everyone in town blamed Billy for it, even her father. Though she had to deal not only with the pain of losing her mother but also guilt, that shouldn¿t of been put on her, Billy continued longing for peace until she got it; not only with the town, but also the relationship with her father. I recommend this book for anyone that likes to read historical fiction. Other good books I suggest by Hesse are Witness also a historical fiction. Another that I suggest that has the same theme and is also historical fiction is Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry, and also A Death in the Family, by James Agee. I could read every one of these books over and over again, no bad commentary. By far this book touched me more than any other book has. You should definitely check this book out! I hope it will touch you as much as it did me.

Great Book!

This book is one of my all time favorite books. I had to read this book for a project in my childrens literature class and I am so glad that I did. Billie Jo goes through some really hard times for someone at such a young age.

After tragedy sticks Billie Jo,s house, she is vulnerable and her fther is not there for her to fall back on. After Billie Jo comes back home, her father and her start to regain that appreciation for each other again. This book shows the love that 2 people can regain for each other after a hardship.

This book would be great in a middle school. It shows students what its like to live in the 1930s during the depression and the dust bowl. I think it would make students travel back into a life they have never had. Also, for students that live in proverty, they can sympathize with Billie Jo and travel through her story and relate it to their own.

Great Book

I thought this was a great book for my Middle schooler. He enjoyed it and got a lot out of it.

Don't Rush Through

This is a good book but you don't want to rush through the reading if you are doing a book report on it after (6th grader).

Beautifully crafted prose poem

This is a beautifully written prose poem about life in the Oklahoma Dustbowl. It's geared towards older readers (4th grade and up) and is a very compelling read. My 5th grade son was very intrigued and as a parent, I read it with awe. It really moved me.

An intriguing and saddening story

"Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse is about a 14 year old girl named Billie Jo living in the dust bowl with her father and mother. She loves music and dreams of being a professional piano player. Her mother dies from a fire which also burns Billie Jo's hands. Billie Jo has to carry on with her life in spite of her mother's death and her burnt hands. Billie Joe eventually decides to stay with her family instead of escaping the dust because even though her life was hard, she loved her home. Parts of the book were sad, but they made a good story. Anyone who doesn't mind some sadness should definitely read this book.

Surprisingly great!

This book was so original and so touching. It really makes you think about your life and how there are others who are going through so much more than you are. It makes you appreciate what you have and be grateful for your life. I will pass this book along to my family so they can read it too. Amazing book.

Out of the Dust

Young Billie Jo lives in the west in a place full of dust. Billie Jo is a kind, hardworking girl that loves to play the piano. The book went a little slow at the beginning, but the plot finally came into place closer to the middle. The story made a quick, surprising turn when a pail of kerosine was thrown by accident and splattered Billie Jo and her mother, who was pregnant. Billie Jo and her mother had terrible burns, and Billie Jo couldn't play piano after a while. Her mother and her baby brother died, sadly, and after that Billie Jo and her father rarely talked. Even though this was a terribly sad part of the story, it was one of the parts that kept me reading. Constant dust storms came throughout the story, as well as Billie Jo trying to play the piano again. Sometimes Billie Jo would be able to play the piano, but sometimes she couldn't because the the pain from the burns in her hands. Finally, at the end of the story, Billie Jo is able to play piano again. Later in the story, Billie Jo is on her way to California, but she is sent back. Her father and her reunite and start working well together on the farm happily. a
A woman named Louise comes and helps out at Billie Jo's father's farm. Overall, this book was very good!

Wow

This book had me breathless. It was a very sad, but enjoyable book.

VERY OVERWHELMING BOOK

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse out of the dust by Karen hesse is a story written in free verse poetry style that is set in the dust bowl era in northwestern Oklahoma in the 1930's. billie jo the story's main character is a girl who was put in guilt because she was blamed for her mother's and her infant brother's death while trying make a better relationship with her father and louise,who is also withdrawn do to all the grief he suffers. Nobody can stop anybody from reading this book out of the dust. I was very anxious to get done with this book because the story was so overwhelming because of billie jo's greatest achievments in her life. a very good book to read best preffered for teens.

awsome book

Out of The Dust is a story about a big dust storm in the 1930s in Oklahoma. There is a girl named Billy Jo, who is a teenaged girl who tries to help her parents as much as she can. But she has a lot of guilt about her mother and little brother's death. She don't have anybody to help her through this situation, because her and her father don't really have a good relationship. She tried to run away so her and her dad wouldn't have to have a relationship. But she had to come back ,her and her father started developing a better relationship then they did before.

Great read for teens and adults alike!

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse is a story written in free verse poetry style that is set during the Dust Bowl era of the late 1930s in Northwestern Oklahoma. Billie Jo, the story's main character, is a young teenager who has to deal with the guilt of her mother and infant brother's death while trying to repair and build a relationship with her father, who has withdrawn emotionally due to the grief he suffers. Readers will find that even the most overwhelming grief and hardships cannot stop the human spirit from blossoming Out of the Dust. I wept with grief as well as joy along with Billie Jo as she shared her deepest regrets and her greatest accomplishments. A great and inspirational read for anyone, but especially directed at teens.

has many conflicts in the story check it OUT!!!!

The story was a very good book because of all the conflicts that happen over the story the author did a very good job on the book Billy Joe was the main character in the story her mom died and her baby brother died. But she loved the piano which but her hands was burnt and I guess that hurt her a lot because that was the only thing that would com her down. After a couple of weeks Billy Jo's dad started see Louise and then they start living together then Billy jo runs away she comes back and see's the doctor and gets medicine for her hands and she slowly starts to play the piano again.
The author Karen kesse set the mood as a sad, unexpected, and emotional that means very sad and happy and many other emotions