Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
Winner, 1998 Newbery Award
Quick Summary
In a series of short poems, Billie Jo describes her challenging life as the daughter of a farmer during the Dust Bowl period (mid-1930s) in Oklahoma.
Favorite Quote
I found a few things of my brother's
and brought them to school,
little feed-sack nighties,
so small,
so full of hope.
About the Author
Karen Hesse is the author of numerous books for children. Out of the Dust was her third historical novel. She maintains an active blog where she answers reader questions. She lives in Vermont and also makes dolls.
My Project
The photo on the book cover is of Lucille Burroughs, the daughter of a cotton sharecropper who lived in Alabama in the 1930s. The Library of Congress offers a nice starting place for finding black-and-white images of the time period. I made a small collage of several photos that I shrunk down to the size of postage stamps. I used a photo transfer decal process to adhere the photos to the metal blank. The hardest part was waiting 24 hours for the medium to set before I could look at the image. I added a little bit of antique ink coloring to give the collage a dusty look.
I originally wanted to overlay some piano keys on the top of the collage since the piano was such a key symbol, but I found that the decal surface made it difficult to add straight lines or blocks of even color. Instead, I added a rustic piece of dark copper with a silver-colored treble clef layered on top. (The copper is actually the top part of a bookmark and has a few stray stamping marks on it. Because this book does take place during the Great Depression, I wanted to reuse an old piece as a nod to the time period.) I placed it in the center because music plays a central role in the book.
Final Thoughts
Not without hope, but overall, this is a sad book that shows the necessary toughness of the people who lived during this difficult time in this difficult place. Even though I initially felt reluctant about reading a story told in verse, I agree with the author that this was the best choice as it underscored the strong emotions of the book. I liked this quote from the author's award acceptance speech in 1998: "I never attempted to write this book any other way than in free verse. The frugality of the life, the hypnotically hard work of farming, the grimness of conditions during the Dust Bowl, demanded an economy of words."
Your Turn
Readers: If you read this book, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments.
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