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471st out of 3,222 books
—
14,002 voters
Tallgrass
An essential American novel from Sandra Dallas, an unparalleled writer of our history, and our deepest emotions...
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.
This i...more
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.
This i...more
Hardcover, 305 pages
Published
April 3rd 2007
by St. Martin's Press
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Tallgrass is the fictional name of a Japanese internment camp in Colorado during World War II. The plot centers on the tension between locals and the Japanese, a conflict that escalates dramatically after a young girl is found raped and murdered. The author shows us the community struggles through the eyes of Rennie, who is thirteen in 1942, at the opening of the story.
The culture of Ellis, Colorado, the setting for the story, is a great deal like the culture of Southeast Missouri where I grew...more
The culture of Ellis, Colorado, the setting for the story, is a great deal like the culture of Southeast Missouri where I grew...more
I loved this book! I bought a copy of it last summer when the author was signing copies in a little bookstore in Fort Madison, Iowa, and gave it to my wife as a birthday gift. Last week I picked it up at the library on CD to listen to while driving. listening to it was a pleasant suprise. The story begins in 1942 in rural Colorado as Japanese Americans are arriving at an internment camp. The story unfolds through the eyes of a thirteen year old local farm girl. It is a story of the tragedy of wa...more
Feb 26, 2008
Katie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
favorites,
try-it-you-might-like-it
This book was written beautifully through the eyes of a young farm girl, Rennie Stroud. The setting is Ellis, Colorado during World War II and the Japanese incarcerations in internment camps. It discusses the narrow-mindedness, fear, and stereotyping that has repeated itself throughout the history of our country when it comes to the white man's view of other races and cultures. It touches upon subjects of life during war times, the struggle of the small-town American to survive in these times, t...more
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Sandra Dallas is back! I had thoroughly enjoyed Dallas's earlier novels but was sorely disappointed with The Chili Queen so it was with some apprehension that I approached Tallgrass. Would she be able to deliver?
Deliver she did. Only two or three pages in and I was hooked (the hallmark of a good book.) Unlike with some of her previous novels there are no quirky characters here, which is fitting as the subject matter does not warrant it. The central characters are likable. Rennie, the story's na...more
Deliver she did. Only two or three pages in and I was hooked (the hallmark of a good book.) Unlike with some of her previous novels there are no quirky characters here, which is fitting as the subject matter does not warrant it. The central characters are likable. Rennie, the story's na...more
Wow, this book was pretty bad. Tallgrass is an internment camp in Colorado outside the town of Ellis. A town where everyone knows your name and business. The japanese internment camp has the townsfolk a little worried, but not for the Stroud's. The Stroud's own the local beet farm and soon employ some prisoners from Tallgrass to work the fields. The story is told by Rennie Stroud, a 13 year old girl who is trying to understand the current events surrounding her. Suddenly, Rennie's friend Susan i...more
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A compelling story about a WWII Japanese internment camp in Southern Colorado. The story is told from 13 year old Rennie's point of view. She grew up a lot that year. The murder at the beginning made me want to finish to see who did it. A simple story that I could see where it was going most of the time. It wrapped up very nicely at the end.
May 06, 2008
Toni
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Lynne, Laura, Sarah
Shelves:
historical-fiction
Very close to being five stars for me. Excellent character development and plot, about a time in our history that has been all but forgotten - the internment of people of Japanese ancestory on the West Coast during World War II. This book is one you really cheer for the good guys in and hiss at the bad ones. I especially loved the protagonist, her parents and grandmother, and the Japanese people who eventually worked on their sugar beet farm. I was somewhat disappointed in the ending of the book...more
What life was like on the homefront during WWII. Also info about the Japanese/Americans who were placed in camps here in the US. Awesome book and listed as a book that you should give to yourself!
This was difficult to read because of its honest portrayal of racial bigotry and ignorance in WWII Colorado. An internment camp for Japanese Americans has been built near a small town. The reactions of the residents, mostly farmers, is true to the history of the time. A murder mystery overshadows the relationships between a young girl and her family who live next to the camp. Sandra Dallas deals with the issues in her usual pastoral style. The dialogues are true to the characters. This is a page...more
I heard about Tallgrass, by Sandra Dallas, earlier this year while listening to NPR’s list of books “to give to yourself” this past holiday season. Then, more recently I saw it on the young adult shelves at the local public library. I decided to give it a read, partly as a departure from the jr. high, elementary and picture books that I usually read. I noted that the book was reviewed by School Library Journal as a high school or adult book, which I agree with, due to the book’s subject matter,...more
It's unlikely I would have picked this book off the shelf if it hadn't been the choice of my book club this month, but it turned out to be a very good book. Rennie lives in Ellis, CO with her parents and grandmother. They are beet farmers. During WWII some of the Japanese in CA are relocated to a "camp" in Ellis. Rennie is 12 at the beginning of the book and the story is told from her perspective over the next few years. Her brother goes off to war, as do all the young men, and the farmers are l...more
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...more
Sandra Dallas is a very successful American author and has published 12 novels. Tallgrass was published by St Martin's Press in 2007. I haven't read any of Sandra Dallas' books before and was drawn to Tallgrass by the subject; the Japanese interment camps opened in America during World War II. I knew nothing about these camps until I read the brilliant Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet by Jamie Ford, ever since then, I have been looking out for more novels based on this theme.
In February...more
In February...more
This book is told from the point of view of Rennie Stroud, a 13-year-old Colorado girl and begins in 1942 after Pearl Harbor. Rennie's older sister has gone to live and work in a factory in Denver, and her older brother Buddy left college to enlist. An internment camp for Japanese has been build near their small town, only a mile or so from the Stroud farm. Rennie struggles to form her own opinion of the situation looking at both her family and the townspeople. Rennie's father Loyal, is a deeply...more
Set in a Colorado beet farming community that gets a Japanese internment camp, this is To Kill a Mockingbird nearly scene for scene. It’s told by Rennie, a young girl. Her father is a forceful man who has given up fighting, but goes against many in the town by hiring Japanese- Americans to help him on the farm. There’s a mean low- class family who threaten Rennie’s family. The neighbor ladies make cakes for each other, even during the war. Rennie, her Mom (there’s a difference with TKaM, Rennie...more
I quite enjoyed this book, and would rate it 3 1/2 if I could. The story is told through the eyes of Rennie, who is 14 and finding her own voice in the early 1940's, when a Japanese internment camp opens down the road from her home and changes life forever. With her older sister living in another city and her brother in the military, Rennie suddenly finds herself with more responsibilities and privileges. As various secrets unfold, processing them through Rennie's eyes, and seeing her struggle t...more
I liked how the story was told from the point of view of a young girl. By telling this story from the perspective of how a Japanese internment camp affected a small town and especially the girl's family, it made the story more personal. The story didn't go into much detail about the camp but it gave enough information through characters to help the reader get a better feel for what it would have been like for the Japanese-Americans and the Americans. (Everyone was American that was the scary par...more
I resisted reading Tallgrass because I thought it might be a little like a Book of the Month book and also because I am tired of books centered around WWII. I was wrong on both counts. Tallgrass is the story of a small town in Eastern Colorado on the plains that has been given (forced upon) a Japanese internment camp. The story is from the perspective of a spunky 12 year old whose family raises sugar beets.
This family drama is played out at quilting bee's, on dusty roads, in Denver when streetca...more
This family drama is played out at quilting bee's, on dusty roads, in Denver when streetca...more
In the audio interview, when asked about the point-of-view, Dallas said something along the lines of, "I didn't want to write from a Japanese perspective because I'm not Japanese and that would be pretentious."
But she's using these experiences as a backdrop to her narrative and culling a Scout-esque narrator in fairly flawed way. This is first-person omniscient, somehow, with parts of the story revealed that the narrator never observes.
Also in the interview, the author is asked why the Japanese...more
But she's using these experiences as a backdrop to her narrative and culling a Scout-esque narrator in fairly flawed way. This is first-person omniscient, somehow, with parts of the story revealed that the narrator never observes.
Also in the interview, the author is asked why the Japanese...more
I really enjoyed this book. As usually, her books deal with historical characters dealing with hard times and evil people. This book is during WW2 and the primary focus is a Japanese concentration camp. Lets face it, the government called them "relocation camps" but they were nearly prisons. Despite the years since this happened and the fact that I wasn't around then and had nothing to do with it, I still get really steamed that our government gathered up our citizens and put them in prison camp...more
Sandra Dallas brings the sights and sounds of 1940s America to life in this novel - part historical fiction, part thriller, part coming-of-age. Tallgrass is a ranch in small-town Colorado that the US government converts to a Japanese internment camp during WWII. The book's heroine, 13-year-old Rennie Stroud, is exposed to a new view of life, as fear, ignorance and prejudice divides her home town. Rennie's older brother is shipped off to fight the Germans and her older sister moves to Denver to w...more
Summary: 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 turn on the newcomers. Rennie has just turned thirteen and until this time, life has pretty much been predictable and fair. But the winds of change are coming, and with them, a shift in her perspective and a discovery of secrets that can destroy even the most sacred things.
I read this book because it is th...more
I read this book because it is th...more
A provincial Colorado town is changed forever during World War II when a Japanese internment camp opens nearby. The murder of a young girl further fuels a tense situation. The events are seen through the eyes of 13-year-old Rennie Stroud. This story is a real treat all-around. While there is a lot of tense action and suspense, with the murder mystery and the backdrop of the war, there is a lot of warmth and humor to prevent the story from becoming too weighty and dark. Rennie is a charming and n...more
You know what I really enjoy? Historical fiction. I feel that it is often entertaining and features interesting characters, and at the same time we can learn many valuable lessons from it. Historial fiction is a real barrel of laughs, especially when the author thinks it's okay to substitute dates and facts for meaningful character development. That's just awesome.
Okay. The preceding paragraph was a lie. I do not like historical fiction. With a few examples, it is my least favorite genre of fic...more
Okay. The preceding paragraph was a lie. I do not like historical fiction. With a few examples, it is my least favorite genre of fic...more
Nov 26, 2009
Cathy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Historical fiction lovers, books set in the heartland
Shelves:
audiobook,
historical-fiction
During WW II as Japanese Americans were sent to “internment camps” throughout the west. In the book Tallgrass, 13 year-old Rennie Stroud examines the impact of the internment camp built on a deserted ranch named Tallgrass, on the farmers and townspeople of Ellis, Colorado. After a girl in Rennie’s class is killed, most of the town rush to judgment against the Japanese, but Rennie’s parents are wise and do not fall into the prevailing xenophobia that sweeps across the town. Rennie’s father hires...more
Prior to reading Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas, I had never really reflected on the plight of Japanese Americans who were placed in internment camps during World War 2. I found myself drawn into this story initially by the strong voice of the narrator, Rennie Stroud. Several reviews I read compared Rennie with the famous character Scout from, "To Kill A Mockingbird." I felt that this comparison was merited as I was frequently reminded of Scout while reading this novel.
Tallgrass is really the story...more
Tallgrass is really the story...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Once again, Sandra Dallas has done an amazing job in showing the reader a slice of history in the United States in her book Tallgrass.
In Tallgrass, the setting in southeastern Colorado where an internment camp for Japanese Americans during WWII was located. In this story, we are given another glimpse of how Japanese Americans on the West Coast were treated during WWII. However,the story is about much more than just the plight of the Japanese American people in the camp. Through the story of the...more
In Tallgrass, the setting in southeastern Colorado where an internment camp for Japanese Americans during WWII was located. In this story, we are given another glimpse of how Japanese Americans on the West Coast were treated during WWII. However,the story is about much more than just the plight of the Japanese American people in the camp. Through the story of the...more
Tallgrass is the thought provoking story of the Stroud family, who are typical American sugar beet farmers, living in Ellis, Colorado during World War II. After Pearl Harbor, the government locates a Japanese Internment Camp next door to their sugar beet farm. While the Stroud family feels compassion as well as outrage for the evacuees of the camp, the more ignorant lot of this town breed discontent with the camp and its inhabitants. The swelling debate regarding the camp stirs up the emotions o...more
Jan 11, 2009
Jen
marked it as to-read
NPR: Five Books to Give Yourself
When a small farming town in Colorado is chosen as the site for one of the several internment camps that sprang up to imprison Japanese-Americans relocated from the West Coast during World War II, most neighbors react with suspicion and fear. The Stroud family is a notable exception: Loyal Stroud not only hires displaced Japanese farmers to harvest his beet crop (all the white boys have gone to war); he becomes a protector and surrogate parent for two of them, all...more
When a small farming town in Colorado is chosen as the site for one of the several internment camps that sprang up to imprison Japanese-Americans relocated from the West Coast during World War II, most neighbors react with suspicion and fear. The Stroud family is a notable exception: Loyal Stroud not only hires displaced Japanese farmers to harvest his beet crop (all the white boys have gone to war); he becomes a protector and surrogate parent for two of them, all...more
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Award-winning author SANDRA DALLAS was dubbed “a quintessential American voice” by Jane Smiley, in Vogue Magazine. Sandra’s novels with their themes of loyalty, friendship, and human dignity have been translated into a dozen foreign languages and have been optioned for films.
A journalism graduate of the University of Denver, Sandra began her writing career as a reporter with Business Week. A staff...more
More about Sandra Dallas...
A journalism graduate of the University of Denver, Sandra began her writing career as a reporter with Business Week. A staff...more
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