Why did Karen Hesse Decide to Write Out of the Dust?
"Like the tapping of a stranger at the door of a dream, the rain changes everything" (Out of the Dust, p. 104)
Three years later, her experience in Kansas influenced her to start working on a picture book called Come On, Rain; however, when she showed her book to her writing group, they didn't understand why her character desperately wanted it to rain.
"I started thinking about times in this country when people really wanted it to rain. So I came back to the Dust Bowl." -Karen Hesse
"When I started thinking about the Dust Bowl, I started researching. I became so fascinated by that period of history and the people living then that I put the picture book aside and began writing Out of the Dust."- Karen Hesse