Karen Hesse

1998 Newbery Medal Winner
1998 Scott O'Dell Award Winner

I've finally discovered another book that deserves five stars. Out of the Dust is about Billie Jo, who grows up during the dust bowl in 1930's Oklahoma. It's written in a spare, poetic format and is a very quick read, but packs an emotional punch.

My maternal grandma's uncle and his family fled South Dakota during this time, and I'd heard her say that their crops got "dusted out"... I'd been picturing a little bit of dust clogging up some crops, so this book just bowled me over with its brutal imagery of the indoors of houses coated with dust, giant dark rolling clouds overtaking the land, people dying of "dust pneumonia," and cows with mouths full of mud. Just horrible. Yet, at the end, there's such a wonderful note of hope. The main character comes to understand what it really means for her to get "out of the dust," and with her, we do too.

UPDATE: I re-read this book in 2011 for a children's lit class and it's still excellent!… (more)

"Highlighting eight moments of crisis for the Jewish people in almost as many different centuries, this soul-searching, handsomely produced book is clearly important. It is not, however, festive. Newbery Medalist Hesse (Out of the Dust) imagines a child speaker for each of eight poems, one for each night of the celebration. For example, Tamara, in 1190 York, weeps as she chops onions and remembers her father, recently slain by mobs, then triumphs over despair (holding her baby brother, she says, "Though we have lost much/ yet this much remains"). Paired with each poem is text explaining each tragic episode, from the Inquisition to Kristallnacht; a tag after each poem limns each fictional speaker's fate. Pinkney (Alvin Ailey) supplies some of his most striking work to date, capturing the luminosity of the holiday not just through the lights of candles or starry skies, but in the natural radiance of his characters."… (more)