What a terrific novel! The thing that continues to draw me to Ms. Dallas' work is the way she can tell a compelling 'large story' like the one in this novel, about how the American internment of Japanese-Americans affected both groups. And then on top of that very interesting story she can tell a more intimate and personal story that draws on the unchanging human nature. Very nicely done in this novel. I also liked watching Rennie move from childhood to womanhood in this novel. Her growing understanding of the adult world is handled beautifully. ( )

I greatly enjoyed this book. I have read several other fictional books on this subject. It was a quick read and described really well what it was like for people living in this time and place. ( )

About a girl during WWII. Good story, lots of exitment and very well done. Got the book from a little bookstore off the oregon coast. ( )

Rennie Stroud is the daughter of a beet farmer in Colorado at the beginning of World War II. Her brother, Buddy, is in the army and her sister Marthalice lives in Denver and works in a war production plant. Life seems settled a peaceful pace, despite the war, but then Japanese internees arrive at the Tallgrass camp just a mile from the Stroud farm and nothing is ever the same again.

This is an engrossing book (I read it in one day) and is very instructive about how an insular small-town life can breed hatred and distrust. The Japanese, despite being American citizens are almost universally branded as "the other" and are blamed for everything from petty theft to the brutal rape and murder of a young girl. Meanwhile the drug addiction, wife beating, and just plain meanness of the town's Anglo citizens is excused and taken for normal.

In the Strouds, the author has given us a family whose goodness and decency shines through small-town pettiness like a beacon. They are a family to admire and emulate. ( )

Rennie Stroud, a 13-year old girl, tells the story of what happens when a Japanese internment camp is opened in her small Colorado town during WW2. I found the story compelling. I loved Rennie's voice and those of her parents, who are, at first, some of the only people in town who accept the Japanese people. Rennie's father employs some young Japanese men on his sugar beet farm and the bond of friendship that forms between them all is strong.Predictably, the prejudice shown to these newcomers is strong and mean. When a good friend of Rennie's is murdered, the Japanese are immediately suspected, even though it is obvious that it was one of the angry locals. Although, which angry local is not apparent until the end.As in all Dallas novels, secrets are revealed and all isn't as it appears. The book is as much about Rennie's coming-of-age how the war shapes her perceptions of life, as it is about the internment camps. I'm rarely disappointed in a Sandra Dallas book, but I was disappointed in the rather abrupt ending. It was too sudden and left too many questions unanswered. I have no idea how historically correct this novel is, but it's certainly an engrossing read.Definitely recommended. ( )