Out of the Dust
1997 verse novel by Karen Hesse
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Out of the Dust is a children's verse novel written by Karen Hesse, first published on October 1, 1997.[1]
 First edition | |
| Author | Karen Hesse |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Daniel Mullins |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's historical fiction |
| Publisher | Scholastic Press, a division of Scholastic Inc. |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 227 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | 0-590-36080-9 (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 36123638 |
| LC Class | PZ7.H4364 Ou 1997 |
Synopsis
The story recounts how Billie Jo begins with a father who wanted a son instead of a daughter. He loves her but treats her like a son, rough and tough. The book opens with a description of dust storms causing trouble on homesteading farmers. As dust storms swoop in and steal any hope of profit from wheat, the government moves to help. FDR's New Deal is a series of programs to assist farmers (along with the rest of the country). Daddy thinks about taking a loan to plant some wheat, which Ma advises against, as more dust comes.
One day while Billie Jo's pregnant mother is making breakfast, her father leaves a pail of kerosene next to the stove and then goes into the fields. Mistaking it for water, her mother sets it on fire while trying to make coffee. Horrified, she runs out to the fields in search of her husband.
Thinking the house may catch fire, Billie Jo throws the can of kerosene out the door. Unfortunately, her mother is running back to the house at the same time, and the kerosene sets her clothes ablaze. Billie Jo beats the flames with her bare hands in an attempt to save her mother and unborn sibling. Her mother is treated by the local doctor, but she never again looks like "Ma" to Billie Jo, given her severe burns. Billie Jo's hands are badly burned as well, swollen and dripping pus. While her father is grieving one night, he takes the emergency money and gets drunk at Guymon. Billie Jo is left trying to nurse her injured mother.
In the chapter Devoured, Billie Jo's mother dies while giving birth. The baby lives for only a few moments. Buried on top of a hill, Billie Jo names him Franklin after the president.
Billie Jo and her father begin to grow apart. Billie Jo stops calling her father "Daddy," and instead refers to him as "my father." Hands scarred and burned, Billie Jo is left unable to play piano, one of her few joys. Over time she notices spots on her father's face matching those on her grandfather when he had skin cancer. Billie Jo becomes desperate to get away, and leaves with only a handful of biscuits.
She hitchhikes on a train, and a smelly hobo talks with her. He shows her a picture of his family before she falls asleep. She awakens to find that her biscuits are gone, but the picture that the man had of his family is left in its place. It is there she finds a sense of belonging.
After a week of traveling, Billie Jo returns home and convinces her father to see a doctor. She calls him "Daddy" for the first time since the incident. The two start to regain each other's trust. She meets Louise, a woman who stayed with her father while Billie was on the run. Billie Jo respects Louise because Louise knows how to cope with "two redheads" and not "step on the toes of a ghost". Billie Jo and Louise talk, and her father eventually ends up courting Louise.
Reception
Out of the Dust has received many accolades:
- 1998, Newbery Medal[2]
- 1998, Scott O'Dell Award
- 1998, American Library Association, Best Books for Young Adults[3]
- 1999, Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award nominee