Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas

I’m not really sure what it says about us as people, the fact that we find so many books about war so fascinating, yet, as a rule, proclaim to abhor the concept. I read The Street of a Thousand Blossoms a few months ago, and appreciated the unique perspective of a Japanese family during WWII, and soon after I was given this book as a gift. Gail Tsukiyama is the author of the blurb on the cover of Tallgrass, so I considered that a good sign.

Sandra Dallas was originally a Business Week bureau chief in Denver, and she learned about the real life internment camp Amache from a friend who took her to see the remains of it in 1961, only 15 years after the camp had closed. The story stayed with her, until, years later, she read another book on the topic. By then, America was at war with Iraq, and the story had a new resonance for her. Being sensitive to the victims’ point of view, she chose instead to write it from the perspective of Rennie Stroud, the thirteen-year-old girl whose family owns the farm next door to the fictitious camp, Tallgrass.

Rennie and her dad are a cross between Scout/Atticus Finch and Half Pint/Charles Ingalls (in a good way.) In fact, there were moments in the story that were just so moving, the emotions so rich, that I considered reading it to my kids. Then, I remembered the premise: Japanese Americans, sent from their homes to an internment camp halfway across the country, are blamed for the rape and murder of a thirteen year old girl. Oops, forgot about that.

But there is so much more to this story. Unlike many books of this genre, there is an unabashed undercurrent of hope. Rennie’s constant questioning, as she struggles to understand a new moral code, is honest and true to her age and the time. I did feel there were moments in her thoughts that were just a bit too self-aware for a girl her age; but this was more a nuisance than a distraction. Despite her father’s constant defense of the people in the camp; Rennie is slow to understand them as fellow humans being treated despicably by her self-righteous neighbors.

I really don’t want to say more about the story. Just read it. It will frustrate you, and it may even shame you, but it will also make you think and, in the end, make you hope.