Text 4- Out of the Dust

It's not very often that a book written in verse tugs at one's heart strings or makes one value familial relationships like Out of the Dust does. Karen Hesse does not shield young readers from the harsh realities of living in a place where the weather dictates the course of one child's life and how life can change from day to day.

Billy Jo is a young girl; an only child. Her parents have tried several times to have more children but each time the baby miscarried and her family was left with another disappointment. Joyously the news spreads that  Billy Jo's mama is pregnant and this time every one believes the baby is going to live. They have gotten further along with this pregnancy than any of the others and twelve year old Billy Jo can't wait to meet her new brother.

One day, Mama decides to use the bucket of water next to the stove to cook breakfast. However, it is not a bucket of water, it is  pail of kerosene. The kerosene spreads all over mama and she turns into a pillar of flames. Shortly after, Billy Jo's mama dies. The baby is delivered but he too dies. The book continues with Billy Jo and her father trying to survive from day to day in the midst of greiving and in the midst of dust storms that have destroyed their crops, and taken their very desire to continue on.

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...
The flaming oil
splashed
onto her apron,
and Ma,
suddenly Ma,
was a column of fire...

Ma
got
burned
bad

July 1934

During this fire, Billy Jo's hands got caught on fire as well, as she tried to put the flames out on her mother. The burns effect her confidence, she no longer plays the piano which her ma taught her how to do so well. She deals with the pain of her hands... and her heart. Pa doesn't know how to relate to her. The book has shadows of Billy Jo and her father finding their way back to one another.  The reader has to get to the end to discover if they ever do especially since the dust storms threathen their lives everyday. Will they ever get a decent rain?

Brillantly written, Karen Hesse helps young readers to think deeply and soberly about hardships. This scenario is very realistic and could happen to any family, although the book takes place in the 1930's.

Teachers could use this book to aid with talks about the United States post-Depression. I also think it could be used to aid in teaching Science for upper elementary school students. How were children and families affected by the dust storms? What causes dust storms? Where are they most likely to occur? This story makes the study and investigation of weather relevant and applicable to everyday life and circumstances.