OUT OF THE DUST

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hesse, Karen. 1997. OUT OF THE DUST: A NOVEL. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN 0590360809.

Out of the Dust is a verse novel by Karen Hesse that captures the readers’ emotions from the first page to the last page. This novel chronicles the life of Billie Jo from the winter of 1934 through the autumn of 1935. It is a powerful description of the hardships of life during the dust bowl years of the Depression in the Oklahoma panhandle. Written in free verse, this novel reads like a diary. The entries (poems) are divided into sections by the seasons and titled; with the month and year listed after each poem. The sparse words plainly tell of Billie Jo’s struggles to survive; not only the Dust Bowl but personal tragedy. Hesse’s description of the conditions (wind, dust, heat), the pain from the burns Billie Jo and her mother suffer, the despair, and finally the hope not only allow, but demand the reader visualize and feel the experience.

The writing reflects the starkness of the life Billie Jo is living, mirroring the fact that life during the Depression was about surviving the harshness of life with only the hope that better times will come. Teenagers reading this book will identify with Billie Jo’s struggle to find her own identity and accept the changes in her life.

The length of the poems varies with some poems a simple comment about her life and some poems dealing with life altering events. The Accident is a poignant and pivotal poem in the book. It tells about the accident that changed Billie Jo’s life. The repetitive use of words expresses Billie Jo’s sincerity and childlike bewilderment at what was happening.

The Accident

I got
burned
bad.

Daddy
put a pail of kerosene
next to the stove
and Ma,
fixing breakfast,
thinking the pail was
filled with water,
lifted it,
to make Daddy’s coffee,
poured it,
but instead of making coffee,
Ma made a rope of fire.
It rose up from the stove
to the pail
and the kerosene burst
into flames.

Ma ran across the kitchen,
out the porch door,
screaming for Daddy.
I tore after her,
then,
thinking of the burning pail
left behind in the bone-dry kitchen,
I flew back and grabbed it,
Throwing it out the door.

I didn’t know.
I didn’t know Ma was coming back.

The flaming oil
splashed
onto her apron,
and Ma,
suddenly Ma,
was a column of fire.
I pushed her to the ground,
deperate to save her,
desperate to save the baby, I
tried,
beating out the flames with my hands.
I did the best I could.
But it was no good.

Ma
got
burned
bad.

Out of the Dust is a very emotional reading experience engaging all the senses from the beginning. It is an excellent example of a verse novel and an enticement to read others.