As you are lead through the book, you may see what you don't want to see. It is as if you were there, engaged in this struggle to live through the dustbowl. As this little girl has to deal with disaster at such a young age, so did many, and most of them got through it the same, by hope. You might think the real struggle would be her with her environment, but what she finds out is that the struggle is really between her and her heart and mind. After the "accident," all she has left is her father, not even her piano, which deserted her along with everything else. Does she escape? Will she survive? Find out by reading "Out of the Dust," by Karen Hesse.