Author Karen Hesse, 1998 recipient of
the Newbery Medal for Out of the Dust, gracefully, poetically, painfully
opens up Oklahoma’s devastating dust bowl years of the 1930s through the voice
of fourteen-year-old Billy Jo. Having endured loss after loss, Billy Jo is
endeavoring to survive despite the grim realities of the landscape around her
and her father’s slow deterioration. Hesse crafts Billy Jo’s unsentimental,
powerful fictional journal with a riveting sparseness. Billy Jo likens her
mother to tumbleweed “holding on for as long as she could, then blowing away on
the wind.” She describes her father as “steady, silent and deep” as the sod and
herself as the wheat. “I can’t grow everywhere, but I can grow here, with a
little rain, with a little care, with a little luck.” Readers don’t easily
forget the inner strength of this young protagonist. Ages 10 up.
Related activities and interviews may be found at: TeachingBooks.net
Related activities and interviews may be found at: TeachingBooks.net
