Historical fiction about a relocation camp for Japanese families during WW II in Ellis, Colorado called Tallgrass. Kirkus: Colorado beet farmer and his family are sorely tried by events of WWII.When the U.S. government establishes a Japanese-American relocation camp in Ellis, Colo., in 1942, Loyal Stroud takes a view apart from most other townsfolk. Having ?the enemy in their midst? riles the locals, but Loyal believes the whole thing is plain wrong. Why not round up all the German-Americans, too, while they?re at it? Aside from civic issues, Loyal has to figure out how to harvest his beets, what with Buddy, his son, enlisted, along with his farm hands. Against prevailing sentiment, Loyal hires three young men from the camp. And although Rennie, 14, the last child home, worries about her father?s decision, she and her mother, Mary, come to love the boys, who are from California farm country. And when Mary?s heart ailment finally gets bad enough for her to take the rest cure the doctor advised, the Strouds hire Daisy, the sister of one of the boys. Daisy works hard and speaks in a Hollywood tabloid lingo that charms the whole family. Their domestic harmony is rocked by news that Buddy is missing in action and�shockingly¥that Rennie?s school friend Sally is found raped and murdered. Everyone except the Strouds and the sheriff believes ?the Japs? did it, and the tension in town builds to the point of near-anarchy, when the local bigots get liquored up and try to take the law into their own hands. Throughout all this drama, as in most of Dallas?s work (Alice?s Tulips, 2000, etc.), a community of quilters, known here as the Jolly Stitchers, come and go, bringing cakes, covered casseroles and gossip to the sick and grieving. The parallels of a country at war then and now give this story a layer of poignancy, but otherwise, as is obvious from the start, the good guys win and the bad guys lose, and Buddy comes marching home.A well-spun but familiar tale.

Rounding up from 3 1/2 stars. Yes, it's another WWII book, and I said I was taking a break. But this one has a different twist - it's about a Japanese internment camp near a small town in Colorado. The story was simple and sweet. Yes, there was some drama and heartbreak, but not the intense war-violence of many of the WWII books I've been reading lately. ( )

3.75 stars

This is set in a small town in Colorado during World War II. A Japanese internment camp opens up close to the town and some of the townsfolk are not happy. Some people are a little more open-minded, including the main character's father. The story is told from 13-year old Rennie's point of view. Rennie's dad is a sugar beet farmer, who gives the Japanese people a chance by hiring some boys to help him farm. When a girl close to Rennie's age turns up raped and murdered, a lot of people in town automatically point towards the Japanese.

I really liked this. In addition to the story, I enjoyed the descriptions of farm and rural life in Colorado. I was close to giving the book a full 4 stars until the very end, where I thought a few too many loose ends got tied up all at once. It was just a little too neat and tidy, but I still really enjoyed it, and will read more books by Sandra Dallas. ( )

Woo hoo! First book read in 2021!

This book was good. 13-yo Rennie Stroud's parents are cut from the same cloth as Mama & Daddy Walton and Ma & Pa Ingalls. Everyone wishes their parents were like them.

Not really character driven> but good characters and good plots. I teared up a few times.

POI: Tallgrass is the name of the Japanese internment camp.



( )

I like everything about this novel. The characters are extremely well-drawn individuals, aided in great part by Dallas's good ear for dialogue. Rennie's point of view is depicted realistically, as that of a thirteen-year-old. Dallas chose a setting that doesn't get enough attention -- a rural Colorado town where a Japanese internment camp is installed and dramatizes racial and political tensions among the interred and the townspeople. Above all, I appreciate Dallas's treatment of how the townspeople allowed their preconceptions to influence their conclusions about who was the perpetrator of a serious crime. ( )

Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas takes place during World War II. “A family finds life turned upside down when the government opens a Japanese internment camp in their small Colorado town. After a young girl is murdered, all eyes (and suspicions) turn to the newcomers, the interlopers, the strangers. The thriller and historical novel is found on the library shelves under the Fiction section, F/DAL.

Well written novel. Dallas has the American voice down pat. Her character Rennie is how we learn about fear and prejudice in small town USA during WWII. Her father Loyal is also a wonderful character.
Not thrilled with how novel ended. A little contrite. ( )

This book reminds me of To Kill A Mockingbird, and an earlier book by this author, Persion Pickle Club. Focused on the American family and town surrounding this concentration camp, not the Japanese people affected. If it hadn't been a choice by my bookclub, I probably wouldn't have finished it. ( )

Lovely, engrossing, and full of both the kind of characters you want to personally kill and the kind whose families you want to move in with.

A very nice novel about a family living outside a Japanese internment camp in WWII Colorado.They are the family in town that can see the Japanese-Americans for what they are, Americans, and treat them accordingly, which is not always the easiest path, but eventually many in town learn to follow their example. The problems of course all come from within the town itself, and they are problems that even today you wouldn't want the 13 year old heroine of the novel to have to confront. The characters and the dialogue are top notch. I especially enjoyed the father, whose words were few but always well chosen, and his relationship with his wife. Really nice read. ( )

This is a good book, but not her best. I was disappointed to see so many parallels with "To Kill a Mockingbird." ( )

This would make a really good book club book. It’s a fascinating look at the Internment camps, actually more of a look on the people in the towns and how they felt about it; it was nice to find out that some didn't want the camps and that these people should be released because they were American citizens. It’s a sad chapter in the US History but something that we need to look at so it doesn’t happen again especially in this day and age.

I enjoyed the characters in this book especially Rennie and her family, she was lucky to have great parents who objected to the camps, even when their own son was off at war. This book is also a bit of a coming of age story for Rennie. There is also a mystery added in and I’m sure you can guess who is blamed for the crime.

This was my first book by this author but it won’t be my last I really enjoyed her writing style and thought she was a very good storyteller.

Lorelei King’s narration was as always spot on, everyone had their own voice and it was easy to differentiate between all the characters.

4 ½ Stars ( )

TALLGRASS, by Sandra Dallas.
I found this book at a used book sale and got it because I have enjoyed other books, both fiction and memoir, about how Japanese-Americans were relocated to internment centers following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Two very good books on this subject are FAREWELL TO MANZANAR and HEART MOUNTAIN. This book, about a Colorado internment center, and the Stroud family, whose farm was adjacent to the camp, seemed geared to a YA audience. The narrator is thirteen year-old Rennie Stroud, who has a lot on her plate, with a beloved older brother a prisoner in a German POW camp, an absent older sister, and a mother with a heart condition. After Rennie herself, the strongest character here is, hands, down her father, Loyal Stroud, who will undoubtedly make you think of Atticus Finch in his understated wisdom and bravery in the face of widespread hatred and prejudice displayed by the townspeople toward their new Japanese 'neighbors.' There is an unsolved rape and murder of a young girl from another farm which should add more tension and forward momentum to the story than it does. But in fact the story tends to lumber, often weighted down by 'homey' not necessarily pertinent details about farming and small-town life. I grew impatient with the story about halfway in, and might not have finished it at all, except I wanted to know who the murderer was. And the answer to that seemed a bit too neat and tacked on. Maybe I was just a little too old for this book. I suspect young teenage girls might find it more to their liking, as there is plenty here about making that difficult transition from childhood to young womanhood; and it also offers a soft-lensed introduction to one of the more shameful chapters in U.S. history. Recommended for that audience, say ages 12-16. ( )

The novel, Tallgrass, opened my eyes to a space and time I did not know existed. I knew internment camps were utilized in Germany during WW II but I did was not aware of the conflict in the United States. I loved the way the author told the story from her point of view rather than the victim. ( )

I have enjoyed everything that I've read by Sandra Dallas and this was no exception! A good book! ( )

I have enjoyed everything that I've read by Sandra Dallas and this was no exception! A good book! ( )

"They didn’t much care whether it was right or wrong to force those people, many of them born on American soil, as Dad pointed out, from their homes and into camps. If you pressed them, people said we’re at war, and better be safe than sorry.
"

This historical novel revolves around the heinous murder of a young girl. It addresses the racial and social struggles of a family living in a small town adjacent to a Japanese internment camp called “Tallgrass”. The Colorado historian based it on the real southeastern Colorado Amache internment camp and the historical voices of this terrible period in our nation’s history.

3.5 stars

My blog post about this book is at this link. ( )

The Japanese internment camps have always been a puzzle to me and a bit of a black spot in American history. Why just the American citizens who were Japanese, and not the Americans of German heritage? Was it because they were more visible, more "different"? Were there more economic gains to be had in terms of the land and business they had to abandon? The government seemed to not see the oddities in taking their possessions, and bundling them behind barbed wire in internment camps, yet expecting their young men to enlist in the US Military to combat the Germans. This book explored a bit of that, from the perspective of a thirteen year old farm girl in Colorado, who lived in the town near a camp called Tallgrass. Seeing it through her eyes was interesting. The book covers human nature, plus a bit of a mystery, as another young girl is murdered in the town, and tensions rise.

One aspect of the book, particularly, fascinated me: the community and fellowship women build in the art of sewing. I see it still today, in various women's groups formed over knitting, quilting, crafting, etc. Art is good, but art in fellowship seems to work extra magic. ( )

One of the dark moments in America's history occurred when Japanese Americans were evacuated to camps during World War II. In this work, Dallas fictionalizes Colorado's Amache camp and calls it Tallgrass. Although her story was imagined, it is pretty typical of some of the real accounts of distrust that some Americans harbored for anyone who looked Japanese even if they were American citizens. This story is told through the eyes of the daughter of a sugar beet farmer who lived near the camp. Her father was the first farmer to hire the Japanese Americans to work in his fields during their time at the camp. Many farmers followed suit, finding them to be trustworthy. Others refused to abandon their prejudices. The death of a young girl shortly after the arrival of the evacuees fueled some of the mistrust. Many realized that the Japanese Americans were being blamed although there was no evidence to support the claim that they had anything to do with the deed. It's a beautiful story for an adult audience although many high school students would probably enjoy the story as well. The book would provide great discussion for units dealing with this period of history or with ethnic prejudice.A beautifully told story! ( )

I found the book boring, but my book club loved it. Perhaps I've read too much on the Japanese prison camps that existed in the US, because for some reason, this book just wasn't as good as others that I have read. The who-done-it subplot of the girl who gets killed has a surprise ending and I would never have guessed the killer, so that's good. If you read this for a book group, there is a very good discussion guide available at readinggroupguides.com ( )

During the dark days of World War II, President Roosevelt signed an act that required Japanese Americans to be relocated to interment camps for the duration of the war with Japan. A absolute act of racism, these people “looked” foreign and so were treated as such. In Tallgrass we read of one such camp in Colorado. Told from the point of view of a young girl who lives next to the camp, the story revolves around a horrific murder and the suspicions that arise because of it.

The small town of Ellis, Colorado and it’s inhabitants aren’t bad people, but fear and prejudice, plus strong patriotic feelings after Pearl Harbor, allow many to turn away from the few that persist in taunting and tormenting the Japanese. Life, as seen through the eyes of thirteen year old Rennie is changing and change can be at times confusing and scary.

This is my second book by Sandra Dallas and she is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors. Her characters come alive on the pages and I know I will be thinking of them for some time to come. Her storytelling is rich and rewarding, and the addition of the mystery to this poignant story made for an engrossing read. ( )

This one may have fallen off my radar had my friend Jane not recommended it. It's a nice read, told from the point of view of Rennie Stroud, a 13 year old Colorado farm girl. WWII is under way and the town of Ellis, CO has become home to one of several Japanese internment camps. Predictably, there are many prejudices that surface with the arrival of the camp, worsened by the murder of a local girl. Yes, the similarities to To Kill a Mockingbird will hit you over the head, but Dallas does a great job with her wonderful characters. ( )

WWII Japanese internment camp, small town in Colorado, great coming of age story ( )

Meh. Little slice of life in this time and place book. No big huge plot driving the book like you think it might. It seemed like everything was wrapped up really abruptly. Not bad, just meh. ( )