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belwood303's review
2.0
I'm not a big poetry person but this was pretty easy to get into. Well researched and several omg moments.
shullin3's review
4.0
This is a story of loss, heartache, hope and resilience. Set in 1934-1935 during the Dust Bowl this story follows Billie Jo who is fourteen years old. She loves piano but after a horrid accident her and her father’s spirits are nearly broken. With no rain to soak into the wheat fields and more and more families packing up and leaving home will they find the strength within to heal? This is a book I read many years ago and decided to pick up again for the Middle Grade March read-a-thon as it fulfilled one of the challenges of reading a book from the decade you were born which for me is the 1990’s. I quite enjoyed this quick read and would encourage others to pick it up as well.
#middlegrademarch
#middlegrademarch
madirm1's review
4.0
I gave this book 4 stars because it was good, but i didn’t LOVE it. I’m trying to not give as many 5 stars. I really like that it’s told in verse. I will have to read more books in verse.
cgonzalez1211's review against another edition
5.0
MS Historical Fiction
Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust (Scholastic; 1997)
Billy Jo is a teen girl living in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Her family depends on her father's wheat crops to survive and that's in jeopardy because of the drought. Billy Jo loves to play the piano just like her mother and she eventually joins a band. Everything in their life is going fine until a tragic accident happens. This accident divides her family and leaves her injured. She later receives a letter from an aunt that lives in Texas with an invitation to move to Texas and leave the dust behind. Does she leave her family in search for a better life? This novel is narrated by the protagonist, Billy Jo and her daily struggles during the Dust Bowl.
(ages 13+)
Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust (Scholastic; 1997)
Billy Jo is a teen girl living in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Her family depends on her father's wheat crops to survive and that's in jeopardy because of the drought. Billy Jo loves to play the piano just like her mother and she eventually joins a band. Everything in their life is going fine until a tragic accident happens. This accident divides her family and leaves her injured. She later receives a letter from an aunt that lives in Texas with an invitation to move to Texas and leave the dust behind. Does she leave her family in search for a better life? This novel is narrated by the protagonist, Billy Jo and her daily struggles during the Dust Bowl.
(ages 13+)
wardo2700's review
5.0
This is a well written but oh so sad book. The author uses free verse to painfully share Billie Jo's heartbreaking story of trying to survive in the Dust Bowl conditions of Oklahoma. The accident that causes a death in the family is horrific and one that would be hard to recover from without blaming someone. Thankfully there is a partial reconciliation at the the end of the book otherwise this would be such a depressing story. Certainly no surprise that this book won the Newbery Award. I'd recommend this book to any reader over the age of 12.
ripsquishy19's review
5.0
haters gonna hate on this book, but i love it. i love the way it's written, I love how sad & real it is, i love how it doesn't skirt around the mature themes it deals with. it's just a really beautiful, powerful book!
darktwistedreads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
It was interesting to learn about what life was like in the 30's compared to now.
mehsi's review
1.0
I needed a book for my challenge on my group. And this one turned out to be the one, and what a crap book it was. This mostly is due the way this book is written. Since people are offended when I get it wrong, I will just call it some form of poetry and leave it at that.
I don't mind poetry that much, but this kind just feels weird. Like someone wrote a complete book, with working sentences and then threw the book in the blender and mixer and continued from there. And yes, I have said so in every review about this kind of poetry. :) I just have to mention it in each review, as you never know if someone read other reviews.
I didn't particularly care about the main character, she seemed weak and strange. And I got a bit tired of her stuff about her hands. Seriously, just be FUCKING honest with people. Just tell them you can't play, that you want to, but that your hands are damaged beyond repair (or at least they make it seem like it is). Urgh. It was just pathetic.
Then we have the constant dust storm stuff. It was interesting at first, but later I was wondering why people were putting themselves through this kind of stuff. Why they stayed, why they kept trying, why they didn't just leave and find something better. Some place better to live. And yes, this costs money and all that, but I would save up money and then leave. There is nothing there but dust.
The book ends pretty boring, I had expected some great escape, something big, but instead things just continue as they always do. Nothing conclusive, nothing exciting. Bleh.
The book is marketed for kids, but I am not sure if they would like this. I wouldn't recommend it to a kid, not at all.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
I don't mind poetry that much, but this kind just feels weird. Like someone wrote a complete book, with working sentences and then threw the book in the blender and mixer and continued from there. And yes, I have said so in every review about this kind of poetry. :) I just have to mention it in each review, as you never know if someone read other reviews.
I didn't particularly care about the main character, she seemed weak and strange. And I got a bit tired of her stuff about her hands. Seriously, just be FUCKING honest with people. Just tell them you can't play, that you want to, but that your hands are damaged beyond repair (or at least they make it seem like it is). Urgh. It was just pathetic.
Then we have the constant dust storm stuff. It was interesting at first, but later I was wondering why people were putting themselves through this kind of stuff. Why they stayed, why they kept trying, why they didn't just leave and find something better. Some place better to live. And yes, this costs money and all that, but I would save up money and then leave. There is nothing there but dust.
The book ends pretty boring, I had expected some great escape, something big, but instead things just continue as they always do. Nothing conclusive, nothing exciting. Bleh.
The book is marketed for kids, but I am not sure if they would like this. I wouldn't recommend it to a kid, not at all.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
paroof's review
4.0
Quick read, but very effective. I would recommend to young adult readers or anyone who enjoys historical fiction. A tragic, but hopeful story of one family's experience in the Dust Bowl. Written in verse, this is also a Newbery Award winner.