Cover Image

Out of the dust

by Hesse, Karen,

Format: Print Book 1997
Availability: Available at 28 Libraries 45 of 49 copies

Available (42)
Location Collection Call #
ACLA Mobile Library Services Children's Fiction Collection j Fic Hesse, K
Location  ACLA Mobile Library Services
 
Collection  Children's Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  j Fic Hesse, K
 
 
Baldwin Borough Library Juvenile J HES
Location  Baldwin Borough Library
 
Collection  Juvenile
 
Call Number  J HES
 
 
Bethel Park Public Library Young Adult YA HESSE Karen
Location  Bethel Park Public Library
 
Collection  Young Adult
 
Call Number  YA HESSE Karen
 
 
Bethel Park Public Library Juvenile Fiction juv HESSE Karen
Location  Bethel Park Public Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  juv HESSE Karen
 
 
Brentwood Library Juvenile Fiction JUV Hesse
Location  Brentwood Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  JUV Hesse
 
 
CLP - Main Library First Floor Children's Department - Fiction Collection j FICTION Hesse
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  First Floor Children's Department - Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  j FICTION Hesse
 
 
CLP - Squirrel Hill Children's Fiction Collection j FICTION Hesse
Location  CLP - Squirrel Hill
 
Collection  Children's Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  j FICTION Hesse
 
 
CLP - Squirrel Hill Children's Fiction Collection j FICTION Hesse
Location  CLP - Squirrel Hill
 
Collection  Children's Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  j FICTION Hesse
 
 
CLP - Squirrel Hill Children's Fiction Collection j FICTION Hesse
Location  CLP - Squirrel Hill
 
Collection  Children's Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  j FICTION Hesse
 
 
Carnegie Free Library of Swissvale Young Adult Fiction YA Fic Hes
Location  Carnegie Free Library of Swissvale
 
Collection  Young Adult Fiction
 
Call Number  YA Fic Hes
 
 
Carnegie Library of Homestead Teen Fiction YA FIC HESS
Location  Carnegie Library of Homestead
 
Collection  Teen Fiction
 
Call Number  YA FIC HESS
 
 
Carnegie Library of McKeesport - Duquesne Children Fiction J HES
Location  Carnegie Library of McKeesport - Duquesne
 
Collection  Children Fiction
 
Call Number  J HES
 
 
Clairton Public Library Junior J HESS
Location  Clairton Public Library
 
Collection  Junior
 
Call Number  J HESS
 
 
Community Library of Allegheny Valley - Harrison Young Adult Fiction YA HESSE
Location  Community Library of Allegheny Valley - Harrison
 
Collection  Young Adult Fiction
 
Call Number  YA HESSE
 
 
Coraopolis Memorial Library Juvenile Fiction J FIC HES
Location  Coraopolis Memorial Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  J FIC HES
 
 
Dormont Public Library Juvenile Fiction J HESS
Location  Dormont Public Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  J HESS
 
 
Dormont Public Library Juvenile Fiction J HESS
Location  Dormont Public Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  J HESS
 
 
Green Tree Public Library Children's NEWBERY HES
Location  Green Tree Public Library
 
Collection  Children's
 
Call Number  NEWBERY HES
 
 
Hampton Community Library Teen Fiction TEEN F HESSE
Location  Hampton Community Library
 
Collection  Teen Fiction
 
Call Number  TEEN F HESSE
 
 
Jefferson Hills Public Library Young Adult YA HES
Location  Jefferson Hills Public Library
 
Collection  Young Adult
 
Call Number  YA HES
 
 
Moon Township Public Library Young Adult Fiction YA F HESSE
Location  Moon Township Public Library
 
Collection  Young Adult Fiction
 
Call Number  YA F HESSE
 
 
Mt. Lebanon Public Library Children's Fiction j HESSE Karen
Location  Mt. Lebanon Public Library
 
Collection  Children's Fiction
 
Call Number  j HESSE Karen
 
 
Mt. Lebanon Public Library Children's Fiction j HESSE
Location  Mt. Lebanon Public Library
 
Collection  Children's Fiction
 
Call Number  j HESSE
 
 
Mt. Lebanon Public Library Children's Fiction j HESSE
Location  Mt. Lebanon Public Library
 
Collection  Children's Fiction
 
Call Number  j HESSE
 
 
Northern Tier Regional Library Young Adult YA FIC HESSE
Location  Northern Tier Regional Library
 
Collection  Young Adult
 
Call Number  YA FIC HESSE
 
 
Northern Tier Regional Library Juvenile Paperback J PAP HESSE
Location  Northern Tier Regional Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Paperback
 
Call Number  J PAP HESSE
 
 
Northern Tier Regional Library Juvenile J FIC HESSE
Location  Northern Tier Regional Library
 
Collection  Juvenile
 
Call Number  J FIC HESSE
 
 
Northland Public Library Teen Paperbacks P/TEEN HES
Location  Northland Public Library
 
Collection  Teen Paperbacks
 
Call Number  P/TEEN HES
 
 
Northland Public Library Teen Paperbacks P/TEEN HES
Location  Northland Public Library
 
Collection  Teen Paperbacks
 
Call Number  P/TEEN HES
 
 
Northland Public Library Teen Paperbacks P/YA HES
Location  Northland Public Library
 
Collection  Teen Paperbacks
 
Call Number  P/YA HES
 
 
Northland Public Library Teen Fiction YA FIC HESSE
Location  Northland Public Library
 
Collection  Teen Fiction
 
Call Number  YA FIC HESSE
 
 
Penn Hills Library Juvenile j HES
Location  Penn Hills Library
 
Collection  Juvenile
 
Call Number  j HES
 
 
Pine Center Branch Juvenile J FIC HESSE
Location  Pine Center Branch
 
Collection  Juvenile
 
Call Number  J FIC HESSE
 
 
Pleasant Hills Public Library Young Adult Fic YA Hes
Location  Pleasant Hills Public Library
 
Collection  Young Adult
 
Call Number  Fic YA Hes
 
 
Sewickley Public Library Newbery & Caldecott J F HES NEWBERY
Location  Sewickley Public Library
 
Collection  Newbery & Caldecott
 
Call Number  J F HES NEWBERY
 
 
Shaler North Hills Library Juvenile Fiction j HESSE
Location  Shaler North Hills Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  j HESSE
 
 
Shaler North Hills Library Juvenile Fiction j HES
Location  Shaler North Hills Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  j HES
 
 
South Fayette Township Library Juvenile Fiction J FIC HES
Location  South Fayette Township Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  J FIC HES
 
 
Upper St. Clair Township Library Juvenile Fiction JUV NEWBERY HESSE
Location  Upper St. Clair Township Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  JUV NEWBERY HESSE
 
 
Upper St. Clair Township Library Juvenile Fiction JUV NEWBERY HESSE
Location  Upper St. Clair Township Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  JUV NEWBERY HESSE
 
 
Whitehall Public Library Teen Fiction YA Hesse
Location  Whitehall Public Library
 
Collection  Teen Fiction
 
Call Number  YA Hesse
 
 
Whitehall Public Library Juvenile Fiction JF Hesse
Location  Whitehall Public Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  JF Hesse
 
 
 
Noncirculating (3)
Location Collection Call #
CLP - Main Library First Floor Children's Department - Special Collections rj PAPERBACK Hesse
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  First Floor Children's Department - Special Collections
 
Call Number  rj PAPERBACK Hesse
 
 
CLP - Main Library First Floor Children's Department - Special Collections j FICTION Hesse
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  First Floor Children's Department - Special Collections
 
Call Number  j FICTION Hesse
 
 
Northland Public Library Children's Ready Reference JR FIC HES
Location  Northland Public Library
 
Collection  Children's Ready Reference
 
Call Number  JR FIC HES
 
 
 
Unavailable (4)
Location Collection Status
Cooper-Siegel Community Library Childrens' Room CHECKED OUT
Location  Cooper-Siegel Community Library
 
Collection  Childrens' Room
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 
Cooper-Siegel Community Library - Sharpsburg Childrens ON HOLDSHELF
Location  Cooper-Siegel Community Library - Sharpsburg
 
Collection  Childrens
 
Status  ON HOLDSHELF
 
 
Northern Tier Regional Library Juvenile Paperback CHECKED OUT
Location  Northern Tier Regional Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Paperback
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 
Robinson Library Middle Grade Section CHECKED OUT
Location  Robinson Library
 
Collection  Middle Grade Section
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 

Summary
Acclaimed author Karen Hesse's Newbery Medal-winning novel-in-verse explores the life of fourteen-year-old Billie Jo growing up in the dust bowls of Oklahoma."Dust piles up like snow across the prairie. . . ."A terrible accident has transformed Billie Jo's life, scarring her inside and out. Her mother is gone. Her father can't talk about it. And the one thing that might make her feel better -- playing the piano -- is impossible with her wounded hands.To make matters worse, dust storms are devastating the family farm and all the farms nearby. While others flee from the dust bowl, Billie Jo is left to find peace in the bleak landscape of Oklahoma -- and in the surprising landscape of her own heart.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Gr. 6^-9. "Daddy came in, / he sat across from Ma and blew his nose. / Mud streamed out. / He coughed and spit out / mud. / If he had cried, / his tears would have been mud too, / but he didn't cry. / And neither did Ma." This is life in the Oklahoma dust bowl in the mid-1930s. Billie Jo and her parents barely eke out a living from the land, as her father refuses to plant anything but wheat, and the winds and dust destroy the crop time after time. Playing the piano provides some solace, but there is no comfort to be had once Billie Jo's pregnant mother mistakes a bucket of kerosene for a bucket of water and dies, leaving a husband who withdraws even further and an adolescent daughter with terribly burned hands. The story is bleak, but Hesse's writing transcends the gloom and transforms it into a powerfully compelling tale of a girl with enormous strength, courage, and love. The entire novel is written in very readable blank verse, a superb choice for bringing out the exquisite agony and delight to be found in such a difficult period lived by such a vibrant character. It also spares the reader the trouble of wading through pages of distressing text, distilling all the experiences into brief, acutely observed phrases. This is an excellent book for discussion, and many of the poems stand alone sufficiently to be used as powerful supplements to a history lesson. --Susan Dove Lempke"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "This intimate novel, written in stanza form, poetically conveys the heat, dust and wind of Oklahoma along with the discontent of narrator Billy Jo, a talented pianist growing up during the Depression. Unlike her father, who refuses to abandon his failing farm ("He and the land have a hold on each other"), Billy Jo is eager to "walk my way West/ and make myself to home in that distant place/ of green vines and promise." She wants to become a professional musician and travel across the country. But those dreams end with a tragic fire that takes her mother's life and reduces her own hands to useless, "swollen lumps." Hesse's (The Music of Dolphins) spare prose adroitly traces Billy Jo's journey in and out of darkness. Hesse organizes the book like entries in a diary, chronologically by season. With each meticulously arranged entry she paints a vivid picture of Billy Jo's emotions, ranging from desolation ("I look at Joe and know our future is drying up/ and blowing away with the dust") to longing ("I have a hunger,/ for more than food./ I have a hunger/ bigger than Joyce City") to hope (the farmers, surveying their fields,/ nod their heads as/ the frail stalks revive,/ everyone, everything, grateful for this moment,/ free of the/ weight of dust"). Readers may find their own feelings swaying in beat with the heroine's shifting moods as she approaches her coming-of-age and a state of self-acceptance. Ages 11-13. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Dust storms -- Juvenile fiction.
Farm life -- Juvenile fiction.
Depressions -- 1929 -- Juvenile fiction.
Dust storms -- Fiction.
Farm life -- Fiction.
Depressions -- 1929 -- Fiction.
Novels in verse.
Oklahoma -- Juvenile fiction.
Oklahoma -- Fiction.
Publisher New York :Scholastic Press,1997
Edition 1st ed.
Language English
Notes "Apple signature."
Awards Newbery Medal, 1998
Description 227 pages ; 20 cm
ISBN 9780590360807
0590360809
9780590371254
0590371258
Other Classic View