Book post: Out of the Dust

Book cover from Scholastic

Hesse, K. (1997). Out of the dust. New York, NY: Scholastic.

*Winner of the 1998 Newbery Medal*

Billie Jo is a young girl growing up in the Dust Bowl when she experiences a great loss. Her mother and baby brother die because of a household accident, and Billie Jo and her father both feel a responsibility for what happened. They have to learn to live with their pain and with each other in the aftermath. Written as a series of poems in free verse instead of traditional chapters, the format adds to creating Billie Jo's first person voice. This is a great text for studying elements of poetry and it would be fun to emulate the style in writing autobiographical narrative poems. It can also be used as an introduction to life in the Dust Bowl and the challenges that people endured during that time in American history.