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Jan 28, 2012

Katherine rated it:

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 w More...

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Jan 30, 2008

Bob rated it:

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 traged More...

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Feb 26, 2008

Katie rated 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...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

May 17, 2008

Sarah rated it:

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 stor More...

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Dec 17, 2009

Kerri rated it:

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 S More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 24, 2009

Megan rated it:

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.

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May 06, 2008

Toni rated it:

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...

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Jan 03, 2009

Cheryl rated it:

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!

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 24, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

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...

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Oct 24, 2011

Jacqueline rated it:

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 w More...

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Oct 11, 2011

Molly rated it:

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, More...

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Apr 08, 2011

Keilani rated it:

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 More...

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Feb 21, 2011

Jessica rated it:

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...

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Jul 17, 2010

Jessi rated it:

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 beca More...

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Dec 13, 2009

Ningerbil rated it:

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...

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Dec 10, 2009

Jessica rated it:

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 More...

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Nov 26, 2009

Cathy rated it:

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...

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Jun 13, 2009

Hilarie rated it:

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.

Tallg More...

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Jun 10, 2009

Mindi rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 31, 2010

MK rated it:

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 emotion More...

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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 More...

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Sep 25, 2011

Maia rated it:

I had a difficult time with this book. The premise was interesting - the internment of the Japanese during WWII - and it's one very rarely addressed, unlike racism against blacks or sexism in the Middle East. Probably because it's an episode the U.S. would like to forget - for good reason.

Normally, I finish a new book in a few days, and this one took me about that long, though it's short. I had a hard time picking it up. It sat there on my bedside table, and every night I'd settle down More...

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Oct 01, 2010

Mimi rated it:

This was just ok for me. I really expected it to be more a historical fiction with more history. I hardly learned anything from the Japanese internment camp. The title was clever. Predators hide in tall grass in the Savannah. Here the Japanese lived in a camp named "Tallgrass".

there was a murder with 3 possible guilty parties.

1. Japanese too obvious - (remember to Kill a mockingbird?)
2. The mean boys in town that hate the Japanese (characters not fully de More...

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Jan 27, 2009

Janell rated it:

With Tallgrass, I did something I rarely do.... about a 1/3 of the way through reading the book I got to a place in the plotline where I thought I'd kind of figured the way the author was heading, so I skipped to the last chapter or so to see what happened. After reading the ending, I found an interesting character mentioned that I hadn't discovered when I left off, so I went back to that part of the book where the character was introduced to read about them a bit. Then I put it down in favor o More...

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Aug 05, 2011

Connie added it

Tallgrass is a very good book. It's well written and entertaining as well as thought-provoking. The narrator is a 13-year-old girl who lives on a Colorado sugar beet farm. At the start of WWII, a Japanese internment camp is located less than a mile from her home. The book questions her neighbors' reactions to the Japanese, which parallel the reaction many Americans had to those of middle-Eastern descent after 9/11. Even thought these Japanese people were American citizens with homes and business More...

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Aug 14, 2009

Linda rated it:

The internment camps into which Japanese Americans were forced after Pearl Harbor have, at last, been garnering much interest lately. Sandra Dallas has made once such camp the center of Tallgrass. Rennie Stroud has just become a teenager when the Japanese arrive in her Colorado hometown, and her life will very quickly change in many crucial but unforeseen ways. Rennie is fortunate in her parents, who are as honest, good-hearted, and unbiased as it is possible to be, and she is close to both. Ove More...

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Sep 19, 2010

Marla rated it:

This is the first of two books I read by this author over the summer. I read a review about it at the library and the historical setting caught my attention. It takes place in a little town in Colorado where a WWII Japanese internment camp has been established. I've never learned much about these camps other than the fact that they existed, so was interested in learning more. That aspect was enlightening, but I also found the main character Rennie and her family easy to relate to. They are a far More...

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Oct 29, 2009

Nomi rated it:

I loved this story set in Eastern Colorodo during WWII. Thirteen year old Renny, who lives on a beet farm, narates this story about the hate and prejuidice that take over her town when Japanese American evacuees are sent to live at the Tallgrass camp in her town of Ellis. Things came to a head when a youn girl is raped and murdered and all suspect (with no evidence of course) that a Japanese man msut have committed the crime. Renny's observations about her friends and family and her attempts to More...

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Sep 03, 2011

Judith rated it:

This title, to be discussed at next month's book club, attracted me because of its Japan connection. This fictional account of the relationship between a small Colorado town and the Japanese internment camp built just outside of town portrays the complexities of the human heart.

The townspeople blame the camp people for most everything, when a closer look actually reveals that the townspeople have depraved hearts, too! I enjoyed the cross-cultural aspect of it, and found it interest More...

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Jun 08, 2009

Roxann rated it:

I listened to this on audio cd. I picked it because it won an award - the Audie - for narration, and I have to say the narrator was amazing - different voices for every character. Don't know how she could keep it straight. Still, when I first starting listening I thought it was a dumbed-down version of Snow Falling on Cedars - post Pearl Harbor, a murder, Japanese-Americans to blame for the crime and everything else that is wrong in a war-torn country - but I changed my mind by the end. The Japa More...

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