Historical Fiction/Free Verse
What is historical fiction?
It tells a story set in the past.
What area of the United States were greatly affected during the Great Depression era?
The Great Plains
The Great Depression happened after what war?
World War I
Who is the author of Out of the Dust?
Karen Heese
What is free verse poetry?
Poetry that is free of rhyme and pattern, and follows natural speech rather than any set poem rhythm.
What year did the Dust Bowl droughts start?
1931
What day was marked the unofficial beginning of The Great Depression? What was that day known as?
October 29, 1929 and Black Tuesday
Who helped the author believe she could become a writer?
Her fifth grade teacher
Historical fiction often includes...
historical events and uses the point of view of characters in that time period.
Dust storms were often referred to as
Black Blizzards
What happened on Black Tuesday and was the main cause of The Great Depression?
The stock market crashed and continued a steady decline that took years to recover from.
What did the author do to prepare for writing a historical fiction novel?
She read many newspaper articles from the time period.
Writing free verse poetry is like...
"Playing tennis without a net"
What did the damage from the dust storms do?
It killed farm animals, destroyed more farmlands, and forced more families to relocate.
Why was The Great Plains area affected?
Because there was no money in the nation, no one was buying crops.
What does the author believe about history?
Anything in history reaches out to the world to touch everyone eventually.
Why did the author write the novel using Free Verse?
She realized that poetry seemed fitting to the main characters voice in the storyline.
What year was the Dust Bowl region rebuilt by?
1941
What president helped end The Great Depression and what were the group of social programs he came up with called?
Franklin D. Roosevelt and The New Deal
What was Out of the Dust inspired by?
Heese's research dealing with times when people desperately needed rain. She thought of the Dust Bowl region as she was driving