Tallgrass: A Novel

Written by Sandra Dallas

Narrated by Lorelei King

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. Part thriller, part historical novel, Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas is a riveting exploration of the darkest—and best—parts of the human heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Apr 3, 2007
• ISBN: 9781427200464

Sandra Dallas

SANDRA DALLAS, dubbed “a quintessential American voice” by Jane Smiley in Vogue Magazine, is the author of over a dozen novels, including Little Souls and Where Coyotes Howl, many translated into a dozen languages and optioned for films. Six-time winner of the Willa Award and four-time winner of the Spur Award, Dallas was a Business Week reporter for 35 years, and began writing fiction in 1990. She has two daughters and lives with her husband in Denver and Georgetown, Colorado.

Reviews for Tallgrass

[maureencean · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[jinjer-641812 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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

[etxgardener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.75 starsThis 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.

[smits_52 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[pmaurer_11 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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.

[susiesharp_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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

[timbazzett · Rating: 4 out of 5 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.

[rustywatson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[bookczuk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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!

[luvlylibrarian · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[ethel55_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[bookwormteri · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[dhanajo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Talk about a perspective. Look inside the life of a small community and a concentration camp here in the U.S.A. during WWII.

[mkaighn_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great young adult novel. The author does an excellent job of portraying the confusion of young teenagers during WWII. The novel focuses on life in a small town newly infiltrated by a Japane internment camp. Great novel to use when teaching teenagers about the period and the internment programs. As the author choose to intertwine a murder mystery with this social study, the novel should keep the interst of all readers.

[samsattler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Tallgrass, Sandra Dallas explores one of the more shameful aspects of American World War II history. Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese-Americans were rounded up and imprisoned in various interment camps spread around the country. Tallgrass is the story of the impact one of those camps had on the locals of rural Ellis, Colorado, and those citizens that were forced to live within its fences for the rest of the war.The story is told largely in the voice of young Rennie Stroud who lives on a Colorado beet farm with her parents and older brother. Rennie is well-placed to tell the story since her family’s farm is within easy walking distance of the new internment camp suddenly thrust upon the community. The townspeople are immediately curious about, and generally suspicious of, the newcomers, believing that the government has confined them to the camp for good reason. The Strouds, however, are an open-minded bunch, believing their new neighbors to be nothing more than a group of American citizens suffering unfair treatment at the hands of their government. This does not make the family at all popular with the majority of their fellow townspeople.When a young girl, a friend of Rennie’s, is found brutally raped and murdered, most everyone in Ellis blames the Tallgrass camp for bringing this kind of criminal to their little community. Those already inclined to mistreat the camp’s residents verbally, are now even more inclined to threaten them physically and revengeful violence is only narrowly averted – for the moment.Rennie has a different take on the situation. As more and more of the county’s young men, including her brother, volunteer to join the fight, it becomes difficult for the local farmers to plant and harvest their crops. In what the Strouds see as a win-win situation, they finally get permission to hire three young Japanese internees to help keep their farm solvent. As conditions continue to change, the family hires the sister of one of the boys and, eventually, two other Japanese women to help with the increased household workload. Over time, and despite the animosity aimed their way, the Strouds come to think of their Japanese employees as their extended family. Tallgrass is a coming-of-age novel for Rennie Stroud, but it is equally a coming-of-age story for the whole town of Ellis, Colorado. That Rennie does a better job with the process is sad but not surprising. As the news from the Pacific front grows worse, and more local boys are killed or wounded there, the camp and its residents are often threatened with violence from the locals. The local sheriff finds it difficult to identify the murderer in their midst, and the Tallgrass internees will never be trusted or accepted for who they are until he does. Tallgrass is a worthy addition to World War II home-front fiction, especially as it relates to what happened to Japanese-Americans during the war. It is written in a manner, and at a level, that makes it more effective as a Young Adult novel than as something aimed at an adult readership, however. The Strouds are just too perfect to be entirely believable and the Japanese characters are generally of the stereotypical variety. This one is perfect for middle and high school libraries and could be used as good supplemental material in history classes at either of those levels.Rated at: 3.0 for Adult ReadersRated at: 4.0 for YA Readers

[gjbean · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An ugly murder is central to this compelling historical, but the focus is on one appealing family, the Strouds, in the backwater town of Ellis, Colo. Soon after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government rounded up all the Japanese residents of the West Coast and shipped them off to "internment camps" for the duration of the war. One of the camps is Tallgrass, based on an actual Colorado camp, as Dallas (The Chili Queen) explains in her acknowledgments. The major discomforts and petty indignities these (mostly) American citizens had to endure are viewed through the clear eyes of a young girl who lives on a nearby farm, Rennie Stroud. Rennie's obvious love of family slowly extends itself to the Japanese house and field helpers the Strouds receive permission to hire. The final surprise is the who and why of the murder itself. Dallas's terrific characters, unerring ear for regional dialects and ability to evoke the sights and sounds of the 1940s make this a special treat.

[mcelhra · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Tallgrass is a fictional story told through the eyes of a thirteen year old girl named Rennie who lives on a farm that is next door to a recently opened Japanese internment camp. The town people's reaction to the camp opening vary widely - some hate all the Japanese and others, like Rennie's father, are open enough to hire them to work on their farms.This is a work of well-researched, beautifully written historical fiction with a mystery subplot that kept me guessing until the very end. This book examined of the shocking prejudice that existed at that time as well as the societal norms that we would find quaint today. It made for a great book club discussion. I loved it and can't wait to read more of Sandra Dallas's books.

[golding_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Listened to talking book. Sandra Dallas was completely unknown to me. Loved the story. Rennie's coming-of-age story is touching and warm. I didn't know they farmed beets in Colorado. I thought there was only skiing! Tough life during tough times. The portrayal of the internment camp is excellent but it is the development of the characters, some shallow, some fearful, some hateful and luckily some who believed in fairness and justice that rivets this story. You'll enjoy it.

[chinquapin_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tallgrass was a thought-provoking, powerful coming-of-age story set in a small farming town in southeast Colorado during World War II. Thirteen year old Rennie learns to deal with both the tragedies and joys of life and community and family after her brother leaves to fight in the great war and the government opens an internment camp for Japanese Americans right next to their farm. She witnesses prejudice and the effects of violence and learns a trememdous amount of discernment that at times seemed beyond her years. I had read that there was a mystery also in this book, and with that I would disagree. There is a murder, but the reader is never, not once, included in any of the investigation or clue gathering or even speculation about who may have done it. The murder served as a vehicle to highlight the extreme, irrational prejudice of the townspeople. Rennie was an enjoyable character with whom it was easy to connect. Her parents were also strong characters and forces of good in a somewhat dark novel. One of the themes that stood out to me is the power of family in the midst of tragedy, and even evil.

[carka_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The descriptive writing and lifelike characters drew me in right away. I'd read comparisons to Snow Falling on Cedars and Memoirs of a Geisha, but they don't seem to stand up unless the comparison is that they all contain Asian characters.

[berylweidenbach · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Tallgrass was the name of a camp for Japanese internment in Colorado during WWII. The story centers around one family in the town and is narratted by the last child living at home, a daughter. How the town feels about the Japanese, how they react to the camp, people from town serving and some dying in the war are a few of the issues delt with in this book. The son of the family is eventually listed as a prisoner of war as the older daughter is working in a munitions plant in Denver. The mother is dealing with a heart issue which causes much of the work of the farm to fall to the young girl. Their family ends up hiring some of the young men from the camp to help with the planting and the harvesting of sugar beets, and a young woman to help with the household chores. Also within the story of the town is sposal abuse, unwed mothers, crowd violence, prejudice, rape and a murder. The young girl comes of age during this time with a more accurate view of life. The information on the internment camps, the Japanese, views about the war and relationships in small towns were all very interesting.This definitely felt like young adult fiction to me which I did not realize when I purchased the book. I also felt the ending was quite abrupt as well as too neatly wrapped up.

[bnbookgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having never read anything about this part of history I found this novel quite interesting. The historical aspects of the novel were well researched and the story built around Tallgrass is a thriller of sorts. The book is also a coming-of-age story about Rennie, a thirteen year old girl, who lives in the town of the internment camp. We read this book for our book group and it gave us many issues and themes to discuss.

[imbookingit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a beautifully written book, showing us a slice of life in a small town in Colorado during World War II, when a Japanese internment camp is built there.13 year old Rennie tells us the story, and I thought that the book was going to be her coming of age tale, with the events of the time happening around her. That wasn't what I got out of the book.Instead, we find out about the time: The townspeople that are afraid if they hire those in the camp to do laundry, they will pass messages to Japan in the laundry. Rennie's father, who doesn't believe the Americans of Japanese descent should be imprisoned, and hires them to work his field. Rennie's mother, who doesn't think the internment is right, but is afraid to stand up to the women in her social circle (but stands up to the men of the town when it really is needed). The entire town, when a young girl is brutally raped and murdered. Most people think it must have been someone from the camp (even though there is evidence otherwise), since no one in the town could have done such a thing.The murdered girl's sister, disowned by her family for marrying the wrong man, who has left her to raise their baby on her own. We see all of this and more through Rennie's eyes, and we see how the town and the people in it change as events unravel.This was an interesting thought provoking read.

[hickmanmc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reviewed by Mrs. SchluckebierIf you need a book about the WW2 time period, read this one. Teen age Rennie Stroud lives in a small Colorado town where a Japanese internment camp is located. Needless to say no one is happy about it and lots of troubles occur. Rennie's family is sympathetic to the Japanese and helps them when they can, but things lead to a surprising climax. It kind of reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird. Really well written.

[booklady2031 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up because the reviews all said that it would remind me of To Kill a Mockingbird, which is one of my all-time favorites. It was a decent read, but it was almost too much like To Kill a Mockingbird. There were a couple of scenes that could almost have been lifted from Harper Lee's classic. On the whole it was pretty good, and someone else might not be bothered by the similarities as much as I was.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.