Out of the Dust By Karen Hesse

Main Characters Billie Jo Ma (Mother) Pa (Father) Homeless man Louise Good at piano 14 years old Ma (Mother) Pregnant Died in the fire Pa (Father) Wanted a son not daughter, but he loves Billie Jo Homeless man He showed Billie Joe his family photo on her run out Louise Pa’s new wife whose fulfill Ma status

Plot Summary In Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl, 14 year old Billie Jo coped with the hardships of living on a family wheat farm. Billie Jo's mother dies after an accident with burning kerosene and Billie Jo blames herself and her father for her mother's death. Billie Jo is a talented pianist, but is reluctant to play after burns scar her hands. She leaves home, but soon learns how much "dust" is a part of her. She struggles to survive a difficult time.

Plot Structure Mom died because of Kerosene left by dad on the stove in the kitchen Blame herself and dad about cause of the death, then she left Oklahoma for the west-AZ to find her life Family’s hardship of living in wheat farming because of the dust bowl Comeback home and realize that she could not escape from the dust-the hardship Introducing the character in the story such as poverty and farming

Themes The Importance of Family Losing mother in the family is like missing a piece of jigsaw. The rest member of family would feel sad. Billie Jo and her father could not live as the same as when her mother is alive. Luckily, her father got a girlfriend Louise who replaced the status of her mother. It was like the piece of another different set of jigsaw that fit the missing space.

Displaced People Billie Jo’s family wheat farm in Oklahoma got a lot of dust which makes difficulty in growing plants, plus it is dry. While her neighbor moved out because of these reasons, her father kept growing the wheat by digging a pool even it is hopeless because it is hardly to get raining. Finally, it rained and he could do his farming.

Forgiveness The death of Billie Jo’s mother was that her dad kept kerosene in the kitchen. Her mother thought that it was water, when she was making tea, so she put it on the stove and it exploded. She blamed her dad about this, later she learned that blaming does not make the situation better. Therefore, she forgave her dad, and tried to live with dad and his girl friend.

Lesson Examples http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/99/dust/intro.html http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/outofthedust/