Out of the Dust is a realistic fictional novel by Karen Hesse. Without giving too much away, it revolves around a young girl named Billie Jo who is living during The Great Depression in Oklahoma. It does contain some violent, tragic content; however, those parts allow for a great discussion. While it may be a short novel, written in free verse, it is jam-packed with memorable characters and impactful scenes. It does not drag out, and gets straight to the story.
Our novels were purchased at a second-hand store, but they are readily available online.
We absolutely loved it and had fun digging deeper into that era with some educational activities listed below.
Aside from reading the novel, we took time to watch a Ken Burn's documentary about The Great Depression. It was available on PBS, but I went ahead and purchased it on Prime. I felt it was important for the kids to see true visuals of the impact of the dust storms, as well as, hear first-hand accounts from those who lived through it. This documentary does both very well.
Each week, the kids were assigned questions relating to the chapters they read that week. At the end of the week, we would share our answers and discuss.
In addition, we learned about some important, influential people during those times including FDR and...
singer, songwriter, Woody Guthrie.
In addition, we learned about the Polio outbreak during this era. Provided in the resources are a couple of great videos that break down the information for easy comprehension.
All of my resources for this unit have been compiled on Google drive to share with you for free. A preview is available below. Enjoy!