Out of Dust is a novel by Karen Hesse, first published in 1997
There is also another cover; Additional words include where the author has additional words and answers questions and more.
Video Out of the Dust
Summary
Billie Jo tells how he knows his father wants to have a son rather than a girl, but how he loves her, but treats her like one, rough and tough. The opening of this book also describes a dust storm that caused problems in agriculture. (Farming is an important part of rural farming community, as it is a homestead area.) As dust storms swoop and steal the hope of profit from wheat, the US government makes a move to try to help the region. FDR's New Deal is a series of programs to help farmers (along with other countries). Daddy takes a loan to try and start a new wheat harvest, which Ma advises against, but dust takes it away and makes more dust.
One day when pregnant mother Billie Jo was having breakfast, her father left a kerosene bucket next to the stove and then went out into the fields. Her mother picked up the bucket, mistakenly thought it was water and made "a piece of fire". Screaming to her husband, Billie Jo's mother ran into the fields, with Billie Jo behind him. Thinking the house might catch fire, Billie Jo walks back inside and throws a kerosene tin out the door. Unfortunately, his mother ran back home, and Billie Jo finally threw a kerosene can to his mother, lighting a fire. Billie Jo ran out and began to beat her mother with bare hands in an effort to save her unborn mother and siblings. Her mother was brought in and treated by a local doctor, but she never again looked like "Ma" to Billie Jo, because she could not be identified through burns. Billie Jo's own hands were also badly burned, swollen and festering. One night, Billie Jo's father took the money allotted to pay for his daughter's future education and get drunk. Billie Jo was allowed to give water (using a very burning and swollen hand) to his burning and wounded mother.
A few days later, Billie Jo's mother died while giving birth to her son. The baby was born and lived for a while, until she was also declared dead. Buried on a hill, Billie Jo named him Franklin after the president, because his father lost words.
Billie Jo and his father started to move away from each other. After the death, Billie Jo stopped calling his father, "Dad." Scars and burns, Billie Jo could not play the piano, one of the few excitement left in his life. Time went on, and he began to notice the freckles on his father's face, similar to that of his grandfather when he had skin cancer. After trying to get back to his old lifestyle, Billie Jo was desperate to get out of the dust, so he got up and went one night with just a handful of biscuits.
He was riding on a train, and a homeless man and smell came to him. Speaking briefly, he shows his family picture before he falls asleep. He awakens to find that his food is missing, but the image that the man is from his family is left in his place. This is where he learns from a sense of belonging, and everything becomes clear to him.
After a week, Billie Jo returns home and convinces his father to go to the doctor. He called her "Daddy" for the first time since the incident. Both are even beginning to gain confidence in each other again. She later meets Louise, a woman who lives with her father when Billie is on the run. Billie Jo respects Louise because Louise knows how to overcome the "two red heads" instead of "stepping on the ghost fingers". Billie Jo and Louise just talk, and her father finally marries Louise.
The novel ends with Billie Jo describing his life as not the best but still happy. Though he missed Ma and wanted Franklin back, he came out of the rest of his struggle and always tried to forget it; sad and happy. The departure of the dust storm and his happy and lively father gave hope. He will probably stay out of the dust.
Maps Out of the Dust
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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