Wednesday, June 23, 2010

A-Z Wednesday: Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas

Title: Tallgrass
Author:
Sandra Dallas
ISBN: 978-0312360191

Publisher: St. Martin's Press/2007

Pages: 320


Book Blurb:

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 to the newcomers. Rennie has just turned thirteen, and until this time, life has 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.


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My views:

Told in the voice of Rennie, Tallgrass takes us right into the middle of small Colorado town. When Japanese start arriving, people have mixed feelings. Most people don't want the Japanese there but they can't go against the Goverment. Anything goes wrong, the people at the camp are blamed. Only Rennie's family seems to sympathise with the Japanese. Her father hires a few Japanese men, to help with his beet farming and he too faces antagonism.

Rennie's sister has gone away and her brother has joined the army. o she turns to Japanese people for friendship. When things seem to have settled down a bit, a body of a young girl is found, all eyes turn to the internship camp. Rennie learns her lessons in the hard way. Nothing is what it seems, even her parents have kept some secrets from her.

Tallgrass coovers the dilemma in a young girl's mind, and the bigger picture of what is right or wrong. Did the government do the right thing by opening up internship camps for the Japanese people? I wasn't aware of this and this book made me look up more material on the subject.

4 comments:

fredamans said...

Sounds like a good story, just not a topic or era I usually go for.

http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com/2010/06/to-z-starts-with-t.html

Bybee said...

This looks interesting. I like reading about this era and this particular problem in American history.

Serena said...

This was one of my favorite books from the WWII reading challenge. The internment camps were something I had not read much about, and they happened in my own country.

Anonymous said...

This has been on my wish list for awhile. And I've been wanting to try a Sandra Dallas novel. Great review :)