Beryl W. reviewed on 6/1/2010 + 44 more book reviews

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.

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