Out of the Dust
Name: ___________________________________________________ Date: ______________________
Section 9: The President’s Ball through The Competition
1. Where was the dance held that Billie Jo and her father attended?
2. What did the dance raise thirty-three dollars for?
3. What did the government, the bakery, and some local dairy farmers do for the children at the school?
4. Who moved into Billie Jo’s school classroom?
5. Why did the children bring the fixings for soup to school?
6. What did they dress the new baby wear in Birth?
7. Which way did the family head when they left Billie Jo’s school?
8. What happened to the sugar that Sheriff Robertson found at the still on the
9. Why is Billie Jo practicing piano again in Dreams?
10. What did Billie Jo win in the talent show competition at the Palace?
Section 9 Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues
Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence. Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you think the words in bold mean.
1. …Out feet flying, me and my father, on the wooden floor whirling to Arley Wanderdale and the Black
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2. We share it at lunch with our guests, the family of migrants who have moved out from dust and
Depression and moved into our classroom.
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3. The grandma takes care of the children, bringing them out when the dust isn’t blowing letting them
chase tumbleweeds across the field behind the school….
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4. Ashby and Rush were cooking up moonshine….
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5. He found jugs of finished whiskey, and barrels and barrels of mash….
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6. Apple pandowdy!
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7. I have practiced my best piece over and over/till my arms throb….
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Part II: Determining the Meaning: Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions.
___41. whirling A. dish baked with sugar with thick top crust
___42. migrants B. illegally distilled whiskey
___43. tumbleweed C. pulsate; beat rapidly or violently
___44. moonshine D. rotating rapidly; spinning
___45. mash E. workers who travel around seeking work
___46. pandowdy F. broken off plant that rolls around in the wind
___47. throb G. mixture from which alcohol can be distilled