Out of the Dust

Hesse, Karen. 1997. Out of the Dust. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN 0-590-36080-9.

I have to admit that when I read this book over winter break, my first thought was something along the lines of, “Oh, no.” I had just been reading Jon Sciezca on why boys don’t read, and the fact that the 1997 Newbery Award had gone to a (1) grim (2) free-verse (3) historical novel (4) about a girl (5) with nothing funny and no action sequences in it seemed like a quintuple-whammy to any boys out there hoping to find something they’d like to read.

Which isn’t to say the book isn’t excellent. Billie Jo, the protagonist, is tough as nails while still able to articulate the pain of her incredibly difficult life in Oklahoma during the Depression. The imagery conveys a sense of the time and place and, most of all, of the relentless dust that slowly smothers everything, including hope. Billie Jo's teacher even gives a lesson in why the Dust Bowl happened: farmers overproducing to pay for new equipment bought to produce for markets in Europe that no longer exist.

I think it would be a stretch for most kids to identify with Billie Jo’s stoic acceptance which leads to inner transformation: kids approve of action and want their books' protagonists to overcome obstacles more spectacularly. And I think kids will naturally have even more trouble understanding the longings and frustrations of Billie Jo’s parents. This isn’t because Hesse doesn’t portray them well: she does. But kids aren’t familiar with the mid-life examen or the responsibility of making and providing for a family. While Billie Jo comes to an understanding of her father by the end of the novel, I wonder how many young readers can follow her there, and I wonder how much the story is diminished by not really understanding the adult characters.

I would provide this book for much older readers, in high school or college. I think it could easily be an excellent adult novel and would probably find a more appreciative audience that way. Every book with a child protagonist doesn’t automatically have to be a children’s book, after all.

Kirkus reviews said, “[T]his is an unremittingly bleak portrait of one corner of Depression-era life. In Billie Jo, the only character who comes to life, Hesse (The Music of Dolphins, 1996, etc.) presents a hale and determined heroine…. 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, qtd. in Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0590360809/ref=dp_proddesc_0/103-0423122-5982232?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books .