100 pages 3 hours read

Karen Hesse

Out of the Dust

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 1997

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Exam Questions

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What best describes the farm Billie Jo lives on?

A) Lush, with a small creek and strawberry plants, but eventually destroyed by dust

B) Half covered in thriving corn and half dusty, trying to recover with patches of grass

C) Full of dust and struggling crops but starting to recover toward the end of the novel

D) Small and full of cattle, with scattered dust and many clumps of trees and wildflowers

2. Which of the following most accurately summarizes Billie Jo’s feelings after her mother’s death?

A) Self-guilt, anger directed at her father, grief, feeling lost, and loneliness

B) Sadness, relief her mom has stopped suffering, and irritation at her father

C) Intense fury at her father with little room for any other emotions

D) Numbness only disturbed by gratitude that her baby brother survived

3. Which of the following is a cause of Billie Jo’s hands getting injured?

A) Playing piano at night

B) A horrible dust storm

C) A mistake about a bucket

D) Guests asking for shelter

4. How does Mad Dog become a symbol of hope for his community?

A) He gets wheat to grow when others cannot.

B) He graduates from college after years of hard work.

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