Book club met on April 27 at Katie B's to discuss Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. Donna and Andi Lynn were missed.

We ate mashed potatoes and gravy and apple pie and apple sauce and all different kinds of apples. We had delicious biscuits (with butter and jam and apple butter) home made by Katie and Jenn.

We started by sharing journals and thoughts on the book. Everyone seemed to really like it. Vicki even wrote a poem.

We located Oklahoma on a United States map and talked about the Dust Bowl and the depression. Some of the girls made a poster with pictures of dust storms, cereus plant, Franklin Roosevelt, the Lindbergh baby and the Dionne quintuplets.

We talked about how sorrowful Billie Jo's life was and yet how hopeful we felt at the end of the book. Katie asked us all to think about what we thought the saddest part was. It seemed like most of us thought the burns were saddest.

We talked about symbolism, particularly of apples in this book. We talked about the importance of music in their hard lives. We listened to Dust Bowl Ballads written and performed by Woody Guthrie.

We discussed the theme of forgiveness. None of us really understood why pa had left the kerosene in the kitchen. We did seem to agree that it was realistic that one would always forgive family. We acknowledged how sad it was that Billie Jo's father had so much trouble expressing his feelings that she felt like she had to parent herself.

We drew comparisons to many other books we've shared. The mother died in many of our novels. The historical fiction Ballad of Lucy Whipple, and Sarah Plain and Tall had similar themes of hard lives and character emerging from the struggles. We thought of Holes when we discussed pa digging his pond in the dirt.

Katie wondered which of us would have returned the pennies of overpayment for the cake ingredients. Most felt though the shopkeeper had cheated others by overcharging, they would have followed directions and returned the change. We recognized how much more it would cost to bake a cake today and how valuable the change of just a few pennies was to Billie.

We talked about characters. We all seemed to really like Billie Jo, but also liked Mad Dog. We liked Louise for her ability to join their family without intruding; "she knows how to come into a home and not step on the toes of a ghost."

We loved the poetry of this book. We all felt the pain and dust in many of our senses through this author's voice.

We talked about how important book club will be as a forum to discuss many difficult issues coming into our lives. We affirmed our desire to continue to meet even as our schedules get more complicated! We talked about books we've been reading and movies we've seen. We heard about each other's summer plans.

Molly and Robin chose Shabanu by Suzanne Fischer Staples for our next novel. We will try to meet in a Pakistani restaurant for our book discussion on June 2.

Next meeting will be MONDAY JUNE 2 (time and place to be announced) to discuss Shabanu by Suzanne Fischer Staples.

Report prepared by Book Club parent Nancy Z.