What happens in the middle of Out of the Dust?

What happens in the middle of Out of the Dust?

Billie Jo’s hands are badly burned and her mother, suffering from severe burns, dies giving birth to a baby boy a month later. The baby only lives a few days, and Billie Jo names her dead brother Franklin (after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt). Franklin is buried in his mother’s arms.

Who all dies in Out of the Dust?

Billie Jo tries to put out the fire, but Ma is horrifically burned. Ma ends up going into labour a few days later and tragically dies during childbirth. Franklin, the new baby, also perishes shortly after delivery.

What does Billie Jo catch her mom doing?

While making breakfast, Ma mistakes a bucket of kerosene for water and pours it on the stove. She runs outside with the intention of coming back in, but Billie Jo, unaware of this, throws the flaming bucket of kerosene outside at the moment she returns, catching Ma on fire.

What is Billie Jo like in out of the dust?

Billie Jo describes her as being “long and skinny, with poor teeth, and dark hair always needing a wash.” Although Hesse does not reveal Pol’s past, Billie Jo implies that her mother sacrificed a great deal to live in the Dust Bowl with Bayard.

What is Billie Jo like in Out of the Dust?

How did Billie Jo change in out of the dust?

After the accident, when Billie Jo throws the burning pail of kerosene out the door of the house and onto her mother, and after the death of her mother and newborn baby brother, Billie Jo’s life changes forever. She is in extreme physical pain because her hands are badly burned.

Who is Mad Dog Craddock?

Mad Dog Craddock is a young man who is a few years older than Billie Jo and who has effectively stolen her affections.

Where does the book out of the dust take place?

This book is set in the Oklahoma panhandle during the 1930’s. Preteen Bille Jo and her family struggle to cope with the loss of their farm, scarcity of food, and the endless swirling dust storms that dominate life in this setting.

Who are the main characters in out of the dust?

Out of the Dust Summary. Billie Jo Kelby lives on a farm in Oklahoma with her parents during the Great Depression. Her father, Bayard Kelby (henceforth called Daddy), is a wheat farmer who has always wanted a son. Her mother, Polly Kelby (henceforth Ma), is a homemaker who is expecting a baby.

How did out of the dust get its name?

The Dust Bowl earned its name because a severe drought hit the farmlands of the middle of the United States just as the Depression took hold. The area was subject to huge dust storms, and families had difficulty raising crops. The main character in Out of the Dust is a girl named Billie Jo.

What happens at the end of out of the dust?

When she leaves, Billie Jo rides a train as a hitchhiker. A homeless man tells her about his family and shows her a picture. She falls asleep and, when she wakes, discovers that he’s stolen all of her biscuits. He has left the photograph of his family behind, and it makes her long to return to her father.