Out of the Dust Study Guide

Karen Hesse grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, before attending the University of Maryland, where she graduated with a BA in English. While at the University of Maryland, Hesse wrote poetry and began developing as a writer. Hesse married her husband, Randy Hesse, in 1971, and the two of them moved to Brattleboro, Vermont after she completed her studies. In Brattleboro, Hesse worked in publishing, and she began working on children’s books after having two children. Hesse published her first book, Wish on a Unicorn, with Henry Holt in 1991. Wish on a Unicorn is a children’s fantasy novel that brought Hesse some positive attention from critics. Hesse continued publishing children’s fiction throughout the 1990s, though she would not become a household name until the publication of Out of the Dust in 1997, which became very popular and widely read in schools. Teachers and critics alike praised the book for its poetic sensibility and approachability despite its subject matter. Hesse published her second-most-famous work, Witness, in 2001. Like Out of the Dust, Witness is a historical fiction novel—this time focusing on racism and the KKK—written in free verse. Following Witness, Hesse continued publishing works for children and young adults. Her most recent publication is a children’s picture book titled My Thumb from 2016.

Out of the Dust is about a young girl and her family trying to survive the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl is a phenomenon that occurred between 1930–1936 in the American and Canadian prairies, which led to widespread ecological and agricultural collapse. It was one of several economic collapses responsible for the Great Depression. As its name suggests, the Dust Bowl featured intense dust storms, which killed crops and made entire regions—especially the Oklahoma Panhandle—inhospitable. The Dust Bowl killed roughly 7,000 people and left 2 million homeless. During his presidency, Franklin Delano Roosevelt sent aid to those affected by the Dust Bowl, though there was only so much the government could do if crops did not grow. Eventually, in the late 1930s, the affected regions became livable again. However, the negative effects of the Dust Bowl were felt in these regions for decades.

Karen Hesse wrote Out of the Dust in the vein of American Naturalism. American naturalism is a literary movement from the late 19th and early 20th century, which often depicted humans attempting to survive in inhospitable regions. Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, and Theodore Dreiser are all American naturalists, though Hesse’s work shares much in common with Jack London. London is known for his novels and stories about Alaska, which, as one might imagine, was a difficult place to live in the early 20th century. Another writer Hesse closely resembles is John Steinbeck, whose works also have a naturalist bent. In particular, Out of the Dust recalls Steinbeck’s Great American Novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Like Out of the Dust, The Grapes of the Wrath is a famous story about the Dust Bowl, which depicts a family from Oklahoma’s struggle for survival. In addition, Out of the Dust is young adult novel written in verse, making it similar to other verse novels like Love That Dog by Sharon Creech and The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo.