Details

Synopsis In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression., This series of piercing, intense poems tell the story of Billie Jo, a 15-year-old girl growing up in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. The free-verse poems span one year in Billie Jo's life, from the winter of 1934 to the winter of 1935, and deal, primarily, with Billie Jo's grief and feelings of guilt over the accidental death of her mother. Winner of the 1998 Newbery Medal.
| Details | | Series: | Newbery Medal Book |
| Size | | Length: | 227 pages | | Height: | 8.0 in | | Width: | 5.5 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 12.0 oz |
Publisher's Notes
First Line: "As summer wheat came ripe,/so did I,/born at home, on the kitchen floor./Ma crouched,/barefoot, bare bottomed/over the swept boards,/because that's where Daddy said it'd be best."
Industry Reviews "The poem/novel ends with only a trace of hope; there are no pat endings, but a glimpse of beauty wrought from brutal reality." Kirkus Reviews (09/15/1997)
"The verse format may intimidate some kids, but if they read only the first few pages, they'll be hooked, as it quickly becomes a gripping survival story, related with the emotional punch and vivid imagery of poetry." San Francisco Chronicle Book Review - Linda Perkins (02/08/1998)
"More than vivid storytelling, 'Out of the Dust' gives a face to history....a literary groundbreaker as stunning as Oklahoma's dust bowl recovery." Five Owls - Thomas S. Owens
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