Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. Florida: Great Source. 2009. ISBN 978-0590371254.
SUMMARY AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Dust, dust, everywhere there is dust! Both outdoors and indoors, dusts provide the backdrop for this compelling tale of 14 year-old Billie Jo’s life during the dust bowl years in Oklahoma in 1934 and 1935. This novel in verse uses short passages to reveal life in the dust bowl. Spanning little more than a year, this brief period of time is filled with dramatic scenes and heart-wrenching loss for Billie Jo’s family and the other wheat farmers who were devastated by the drought and depression that ravaged their lives. Her hard-working father is not easily daunted and persists through failed crops, financial loss, and the untimely death of his wife and newborn son.
Billie Jo struggles to find her bearings through it all and mostly on her own. Her mother’s death is a result of an accidental fire in the kitchen. Trying to save her mother, Billie Jo burns her hands and struggles with constant pain and diminished use of her hands. Playing the piano was one of the few joys that Billie Jo experienced in life. The fire, the death of her mother, the incessant sand and dirt in the house make it nearly impossible for Billie Jo to ever play the piano again. She tries to eventually leave home by hopping on a train, only to return in a matter of days when she realizes she needs her father and their tattered life more than she realized. Slowly and painfully, Billie Jo does find hope and healing as she build new bonds with her father and comes to peace with her life.
Hesse uses Billie Jo's first person telling to provide an honest window into the simple joys of prairie life as well as the hardscrabble days and intense destruction of the relentless dust storms. In “The Accident” Hesse uses short phrases that tumble down the page, describing the horrific fire that eventually took her mother’s life. In “Devoured,” grasshoppers descend upon the wheat field and Ma’s beloved apple tree, devouring everything in sight. The devastation runs parallel to Ma's last day of life, dying that very day, leaving Billie Jo’s world lying in ruins.
In “Roots,” President Roosevelt’s solution to the drought is planting trees. “Trees have roots, he says. / They hold onto the land.” Hesse uses figurative language and rich imagery to compare father to the roots. “My father will stay, no matter what, he’s stubborn as sod. / He and the land have a hold on each other.” Later in “Dust Storm” after searching all night for Billie Jo, the wear and tear of the never-ending dust and destruction shows on father. The reader will sense the emotional toll when Billie Jo barely recognizes her father and describes him as “his eyes red as raw meat”, “sagging in his chair.”
Hesse uses language that is not flowery or sentimental, instead it is descriptive and direct. There is constant talk of rain and when it might come. In “Broken Promise” we sense the hope and devastation of another missed storm. “It rained / a little / everywhere / but here.” She mentions again and again the difficulty in keeping dust out of the food. In “Dust Storm” Billie Jo describes another dust-filled meal, “so we chewed the grit and swallowed.”
The dust is a type of character in this story. It is unpredictable and menacing when storms rise up quickly and the grit and dirt become constant companions in every scene. It is in their beds, their clothes, the dishes, the food, the windows, and the floor. They cannot escape from its omnipresence.
The poems vary in length, most are a single page, but some span two or three pages and others only a few lines. The free verses style is accessible and easy to manage for all levels of readers. The first person point of view creates a sense of connection and authenticity. It is easy to connect to one girl, Billie Jo, just telling her story. The emotions are very real and relatable, even though the events of the story took place decades ago. This title will expand knowledge and awareness of this time in our history.
Hesse has created a powerful novel in free verse, filled with rich language and real life experiences. This title has won a long list of awards, including the Newbery Medal, the Scott O’Dell Award, the ALA Notable Children’s Book, and many others. This title should be included in readings for middle school and junior high students and is a perfect companion to a social studies unit.
SPOTLIGHT ON A POEM
Many students will be unfamiliar with the events of this story. Before highlighting a poem or this book, it would be necessary to develop some background information. There are several good sources but one excellent one is from the PBS Ken Burns series on the dust bowl. The entire series is too long for students to view, but the website listed here has several short video clips, photographs and a great deal of information. It has an interactive piece where students can choose what they would do if they lived at that time. Some of the information would make an excellent follow up, but providing at least a few photographs and listening to a few short video clips with first person accounts of this time period would be very helpful. http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/
Although this title portrays a great deal of difficulty, loss and sadness, there is also hope and joy. The poem I selected is titled "Hope." Celebrating a day of rain, Hesse uses beautiful imagery and figurative language to describe the relationship between the rain and the earth. It is a long selection so I am only including a portion of it below.
"Hope"
"Soft and then a little heavier,
helping along
what had already fallen
into the
hard-pan
earth
until it
rained,
steady as a good friend
who walks beside you,
not getting in your way,
staying with you through a hard time.
And because the rain came
so patient and slow at first,
and built up strength as the earth
remembered how to yield,
instead of washing off,
the water slid in,
into the dying ground
and softened its stubborn pride,
and eased it back toward life.
And then,
just when we thought it would end,
after three such gentle days,
the rain
came
slamming down,
tons of it,
soaking into the ready earth
to the primed and greedy earth,
and soaking deep.
After showing some pictures of the dust bowl time period, show some simulated hard-baked earth. (Depending on your location, there may be hard packed earth already on the playground, eliminating the need to bake the dirt.) Prepare hard-baked earth in advance. Using three disposable pie pans or casserole pans, collect dirt, add water as desired to make it hold together and then bake it in the oven, until it is hard and cracked. Collect spray bottles (filled with water) that have an adjustable spray stream, a sieve with large holes and a large pitcher of water. After gathering the needed supplies:
- Take the class outdoors.
- Sit in a circle around the pans and while reading the first two stanzas of the poem, ask for two students to add gentle spray to two of the pans of dirt. Watch how the water softens the dirt and slides into the cracks.
- At the third stanza, ask student helpers to intensify the stream and eventually use the sieve to pour a steady stream over the dirt. Allow students observe and respond.
- Invite a third student to take the third pan and pour a heavy stream of water on the dry dirt, without the softening of gentle spray, and compare the results.
- Read the poem again and encourage the students to listen for the figurative language. Encourage them to share their reactions and response to the poem.
- After returning to the classroom, provide each student with a written copy of the entire poem and allow time to read it to themselves or with partners.
EXTENSIONS
Karen Hesse is a prolific writer and students might enjoy reading her blog and looking at some of her other writings. You can find her at https://karenhesseblog.wordpress.com. The Scholastic website features a transcript of an interview with Hesse talking about writing Out of the Dust. It can be found at http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/karen-hesse-interview-transcript. They also provide a discussion guide for this title at http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/out-dust-discussion-guide.
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