White Bird by R.J. Palacio

White Bird picks up the story of Julian Albans from the novel, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Julian was the boy who bullied Auggie Pullman. Julian reaches out to his Grandmere, who lives in France, to help him with a school assignment. He wants to learn about her experiences as a Jewish girl during the Holocaust.

Julian is attending a new school, Beecher High. He tells Grandmere that he still feels badly about how he treated Auggie over his facial deformity. His Grandmere explains that it is what we do after learning from our mistakes that matters most. Julian tells her that he wants to write his essay for school about her life. Grandmere is initially reluctant but then agrees to tell him the whole story, even though it will be very difficult.

Grandmere's story begins with her life in the 1930's in France. At that time, her name was Sara Blum and she lived in the village of Aubervilliers-aux-Bois in the Margeride mountains with her father Max, a renowned surgeon and her mother Rose, a math teacher and one of the first women to earn an advanced degree in mathematics. Her early life was idyllic, living in a comfortable home with beautiful furniture, pretty clothes and many toys. In the spring, Sara and her parents would picnic on the edge of the ancient forest called the Mernuit which surrounded their village. In the spring, the forest floor was covered with bright blue and violet bluebells, making it a magical place.

In June 1940, France surrendered to Nazi Germany, dividing the country into two zones, the Occupied zone and the Free Zone. Aubervilliers-aux-Bois was located in the Free Zone. This meant that life went on mostly the same for Sara: she was able to ride her scooter to school, walk to the market with friends, and go to the cinema. But soon the Vichy government began to pass laws restricting what French Jews could do. They were banned from certain public places, they had Juif or Jew, stamped on their identity cards and soon an anti-Jewish propaganda campaign began, blaming Jews for the troubles in France. In the summer of 1942, Jews in the Occupied Zone were forced to wear yellow stars on their clothing. The Vel' d'Hiv roundup also took place in July. This was the mass arrest of 13,000 foreign Jews who were sent to a stadium in Paris. They were placed on trains and deported to the east, to concentration camps.

Sara found her school, the Ecole Lafayette to be a haven. In the spring of 1943, one day during math class, Sara was found daydreaming and sketching in her book. Although Mademoiselle Petitjean was kind, Sara fled the class when the bell rang, leaving behind her sketchbook. It was fortunately retrieved by her seatmate, a boy called "Tourteau" which means crab. This was not his real name but an unkind nickname given by his classmates because he used crutches after a bout of polio left his legs too weak to walk.  People said he had contracted polio from his father who worked in the sewers.

When Tourteau returned Sara's book, she thanked him but didn't intervene when another classmate, Vincent pushed him to the ground. Vincent was very handsome and many of the girls had a crush on him including Sara. That changed when he made an anti-Semitic remark to Sara, and after he praised her drawing, she felt humiliated and angry. Her friends, Marianne and Sophie tried to comfort Sara, telling her that his father works for the Nazis. It was at this point, Sara realized that life was changing.

When Sara told her parents what happened, they argued over leaving France. While her father wanted to leave, her mother believed that things would improve. That night Papa asked Sara to promise to continue wearing her winter boots even though it was April. Although Sara promised, the next morning she wore her pretty red shoes to school. 

That day in school, during math class, Pastor Luc entered Mademoiselle Petitjean's class. After whispering with Pastor Luc, Mademoiselle asked Sara and Ruth to quietly gather their things and to come with her. She told them that there was a round-up of the Jews in Aubervilliers-aux-Bois and that the Nazis were on their way to the school to take the Jewish children. Mademoiselle told the two girls that a maquisard (member of the French Resistance) would take them and the other Jewish students to hide in the forest. Sara had left her coat back in the classroom so Mademoiselle offered her scarf.  When the maquisard led the twelve Jewish students from the school into the woods, Sara did not follow. Instead she ran back into the school and hid in the bell tower. She didn't want to ruin her beautiful red shoes.

When the Nazis arrived, Pastor Luc almost succeeded in convincing them that none of the Jewish students had shown up for school. But just when they were about to leave, Vincent yelled to the Nazis from inside that school,  that the children were in the woods.  With the new snow, the soldiers were able to easily follow the tracks of the children and Antoine, the maquisard. The Nazis executed Antoine and took the children away in the truck despite Pastor Luc and Mademoiselle's attempt to convince them to let the children go. Not wishing the children to be taken alone, Mademoiselle decided to accompany them. Only Ruth survived the ordeal: they were taken to the camp at Beaune-la-Rolande and then forced to march in the snow to Pithiviers. The younger children could not keep up so Mademoiselle stayed with them. They were never heard from again.

Still hidden in the bell tower, Sara watched as the two gendarmes searched for the three children who were missing from the roundup. She knew the only reason she wasn't caught in the round-up was because she cared more about her shoes. Suddenly Tourteau appeared in the tower, and asked Sara to follow him. He told her that to remain in the tower would mean being discovered.  He led her out of the school, through the sewers to his home in Dannevilliers, fifteen kilometers from her own town. Because Julien's neighbours were suspected Nazi collaborators, he hid Sara in the dilapidated barn across from his house.  When Sara tried to thank him, he asked her to call him by his real name, Julien Beaumier.

Julien's parents, Vivienne and Jean-Paul, provided Sara with a blanket and some food and made the loft in their barn livable. Although Vivienne told Sara that she would be reunited with her parents who were also in hiding, Sara knew from her dream she would never see her maman again. As Julien and his family worked to keep Sara safe, she lived each day with the fear that she might be discovered and taken away to a camp. Sara spent long hours alone, sometimes sketching, reading the books Vivienne brought her and daydreaming that she was a white bird that flew over the countryside. 

By the spring of 1944, both Sara and Julien had grown into young adults. Sara was tall with long red hair and Julien, a handsome young man. People and events outside the Beaumier home had changed as well. Vincent had joined the new police, the Milice who collaborated with the Nazis. Pastor Luc had joined the Maquis. The Beaumier's celebrated Sara's birthday with a special cake and they listened to the radio. They learned that the Allies had captured Monte Cassino in Italy and were on their way to France. Sara had hope for the end of the war and began to consider plans for after the war. Sara and Julien had also fallen in love.

The next day on his way to Ecole Lafayette, Julien was arrested by either the Nazis or the gendarmes. While going through Julien's possessions, Vincent found Sara's sketchbook and made the connection that it belonged to the missing Jewish girl they never found in the round-up. Remembering the time he followed Julien back to his barn, Vincent decided to return to search the Beamier's barn. This set in motion a chain of events that had deadly repercussions for all involved.

Discussion

White Bird builds on the story told in Palacio's first novel, Wonder and in the short stories from Auggie and Me. In this new story, told in graphic novel format, Julian Albans reaches out to his Grandmere Sara, to learn about what happened to her during World War II, as part of a school assignment. Her life story offers some important lessons for his own journey.

Julian was the class bully and treated Auggie terribly. Now he's ashamed of how he acted. However, Grandmere reminds Julian that it is what we do after we have learned from our mistakes that is the most important thing. Our mistakes do not define us. Julian's Grandmere wasn't harsh with her grandson because she recognized that youth often make mistakes and don't always understand the significance of events and actions when they are young. In her own life, Sara had a similar experience: she didn't stand up for a boy in her class who was ridiculed for having a disability. Instead, she was concerned about being popular and fashionable. Her experiences during the war, matured her and made her realize the wrong she had willingly participated in.

Grandmere encourages Julian to be someone who has a light inside him, rather than a person attracted to the darkness. Grandmere tells Julian how she questioned her father about why the Nazis hate Jews. Her father explained that he believes "...that all people have a light that shines inside of them. This light allows us to see into other people's hearts, to see the beauty there. The love. The sadness. The humanity. Some people though have lost this light. They have darkness inside them, so that is all they see in others: darkness. No beauty. No love. Why do they hate us? Because they cannot see our light. Nor can they extinguish it. As long as we shire our light, we win. That is why they hate us. Because they will never take our light from us."

Vincent represents what the Nazis were and what they believed. Vincent was a handsome boy that all the girls wanted, but inside he was ugly. He looked at Julien, crippled by polio and did not see another person. He didn't see Julien's humanity because his own inner ugliness prevented him from seeing Julien's light. Sara didn't understand this and so she didn't intervene when Vincent pushed Julien down. She didn't confront Vincent's injustice and unkindness to Julien. However, Sara's experiences during the war help her to understand that she was part of that injustice by simply not speaking up. This is the lesson she wants to impart to her grandson, Julian: you must stand up to evil.

She explains this at the end of her story, when Julian is attempting to understand how the Holocaust could have happened. His Grandmere tells him, "Evil is only stopped when good people finally come together to put an end to it. There must be the will." She encourages Julian to act, "If you see injustice, you will fight it. You will speak out."  He promises Grandmere that he will be a light. Grandmere tells Julian, "...It always takes courage to be kind. But in those days when such kindness could cost you everything -- your freedom, your life-- kindness becomes a miracle. It becomes that light in the darkness that Papa talked about, the very essence of our humanity. It is hope. " 

White Bird is a work of historical fiction that is both written and illustrated by Palacio. The graphic novel is divided into three parts as well as a Prologue and an Epilogue, separated by a black blank page, each with a thought-provoking quote. The illustrations, created digitally are exquisitely coloured, especially the panels showcasing the bluebells in the Mernuit forest. The title of the novel is taken from the motif of the white bird symbolizing freedom, that is found throughout the novel.

Palacio, in her Glossary writes that White Bird  "... was not based on any one person's story, but was influenced by the many inspiring stories I've read over the years about children who went into hiding during the Holocaust and the ordinary citizens who helped them." Stories like White Bird are important not only because they help others learn about and from the Holocaust, but to also because they inspire readers to work towards creating a world free of discrimination and prejudice. 

The graphic novel format is the perfect vehicle to do just this, to engage and inform young readers about such important topics like the Holocaust, bullying and prejudice in a way that is not overwhelming. Using this format has allowed author/illustrator Palacio to highlight both acts of cruelty and acts of courage and kindness.

White Bird is a fitting addition to the Wonder story.

Book Details:

White Bird by R.J. Palacio
New York:  Alfred A. Knopf     2019
220 pp.

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

Stella By Starlight tells the story of being a Negro American during the 1930's. The Civil War had ended only sixty-seven years earlier, outlawing slavery. But the bigotry rages on in a segregated south.

Ten year old Stella Mills lives with her father Jonah, her mother Georgia and her younger brother Jojo in the segregated south, in a town called Bumblebee, North Carolina, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Set in 1932, Bumblebee is segregated, meaning blacks live in one part of the town with their own school and church and white people live in another part of town. The black folks mostly work as cooks, maids and janitors, with few men allowed to work at the sawmill in town. The Negro families take care of one another, expecting little help from the white folk.

It all starts one night when Stella and Jojo witness a Klu Klux Klan meeting across Kilkenny Pond in the middle of the night. They secretly watch nine figures dressed in white robes with pointy hats burn a wooden cross. From their hidden spot, Stella is certain she recognizes the bridle of the horse belonging to the white doctor, Dr. Packard.

Stella and her brother Jojo tell their parents what they saw and their mom and dad convene a meeting immediately that night at their home of some of the Negro parents, including the only Negro doctor, Dr. Hawkins.  While the adults meet, Stella sits outside on the porch steps with Tony, Dr. Hawkins' son. Tony tells Stella that he runs on the track at the white school, something that is forbidden for a black boy. He tells her his dream of being like the "Midnight Express", Eddie Tolan who won two gold medals at the recent Los Angeles Olympics. Tony is determined to run someday in the Olympics. The two children are frightened by the night's events and try to figure out the meaning of the Klan's sudden reappearance in their town.

As her father reads the white and Negro newspapers the next morning Stella questions her father as to why they don't do more. She questions why the Negro paper, The Truth Unbridled, doesn't publish the Klan meeting her father tells her the situation is not as simple as it appears. "Never be afraid to be honest and stand up for what is right, Stella...Just remember to balance your courage with wisdom." He tells her trying to catch the Klan is "like nailing jelly to a tree".

Stella and Jojo and the other black children attend Riverside School for black students while the white students attend Mountain View. Mountain View, with its brick building and well manicured lawn, is known for its academic and sports successes. The students at Mountain View are better off, having shoes and warm coats for the winter while like most black children in the area, Stella and her brother walk to school barefoot. On their way to school they meet Carolyn Malone who is Stella's best friend, five of the thirteen Spencer children, Johnsteve Winston, Randy Bates and Tony Hawkins. The group stop at Mrs. Cathy Cooper's store, Cathy's Candy Store, the white proprietor whose friendliness towards the black children doesn't go unnoticed by Stella. She also allows the children to enter by the front door unlike most other store owners in Bumblebee. White children also enter the store, including Paulette Packard, Dr. Packard's daughter and Barbara Osterman whose father owns the mill. Barbara wonders why they have to attend separate schools, but a white boy, Kenneth, mocks the black children saying they will "never amount to anything."

Stella doesn't like to write because she finds writing challenging. Unable to complete her writing assignment at school, Mrs. Grayson tells her she needs to try harder and finish her work. To help her think better, Stella likes to sneak outside after everyone has gone to sleep.

The black community comes together when "Spoon Man", as Terence Oglethorpe, a traveling salesman is known, comes to visit Bumblebee. Spoon Man travels all over North Carolina, selling cookware, tools and trinkets. He tells them that the Depression has made everyone desperate for change especially in the upcoming presidential election and that he's heard about the reemergence of the Klu Klux Klan in the Bumblebee area. Stella's father indicates to Spoon Man that he wants to vote. "I live in this country and I oughta be allowed to vote!" Dr. Hawkins tells the men that there are now poll taxes and a literacy test about the Constitution before blacks can vote. The KKK are also informed of any black man who tries to register to vote. Hawkins suggests to Jonah that maybe he wait for a better time to push the right to vote but Jonah questions when that time will come.

At church on Sunday, Pastor Patton tells the congregation that he is going into Spindale to register to vote in the morning and he welcomes any man who wants to accompany him. That night at dinner Stella's parents argue about Jonah going to register, but the next morning he meets Pastor Patton along with Mr. Spencer at the Spindale Election office. However, the registrar, Mr. Amherst Pineville, is hostile towards the group and determined to do everything in his power to prevent them from registering. They are forced to pay two dollars to register and must also take a test, while white men who walk in are allowed to register immediately. Eventually they are registered but Pineville warns them that trouble will be coming their way. When trouble does come, Stella and her family and the rest of the black community must pull together to get through a devastating fire and an accident that almost kills Stella's mother.

Discussion

Sharon M. Draper is an award winning author, educator, poet and speaker. On her website, Draper states that she tries to take readers "along on my journey". Stella By Starlight does just that. It is a journey back to 1932 America, suffering through the beginnings of the Depression. Everyone is struggling to cope with poor economic conditions and a drought gripping the Midwest. Prejudice against the black community is on the rise. Society continues to be segregated with blacks having their own schools, churches and doctors. Many jobs are not open to blacks who tend to be in low income jobs. Few own the land they farm. They are not allowed to use the town library. Nor does the American Army want them (an attitude that will gradually change in World War II) It's also the year of the Olympics in Los Angeles and a presidential election. 

Even though black Americans are citizens, they did not have the right to vote until the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870.  Despite that change, poll taxes, literacy tests, state laws and even threats and intimidations made it almost impossible for many black Americans to even register to vote. In Stella by Starlight this is effectively portrayed by the author. It would not be until 1964 and 1965 that these injustices were prohibited.

Stella By Starlight reveals the depth of the prejudice in 1930's America when the Spencer's home is burned to the ground by the Klu Klux Klan, when Stella's mother almost dies from a poisonous snake bike because Dr. Packard, who treats "white patients" only, hardheartedly refuses to treat her, and when Tony Hawkins is set upon by a group of white boys who kick and punch him. However, Draper is careful to show that not all the white people are prejudiced. Cathy Cooper treats Stella and the other black children the same as the white children. Annie Lou Summers and her sister Mary Lou bring food and clothing from the white Bumblebee Baptist Church for the Spencer family after the fire.

More importantly Stella By Starlight is story about community, a place where everyone is knit together by their common history and their concern for one another. The loss of the Spencer's home sees the community donate so much clothing that Stella and Jojo finally get new clothes and shoes - because Mrs. Spencer is "glad to be able to give as well as take". When Stella's mother is dying from the snake bite, Mrs. Odom, who never "takes the car out for fear of getting dust on it" drives to Raleigh to get Dr. Hawkins and bring back the antivenom. It is this sense of family, the idea that "I am my brother's keeper", that helps everyone  endure the hard times and savor the good ones.

Stella By Starlight also demonstrates that children aren't born prejudiced - they learn it from adults and the society around them. Some of the children in Cathy's Candy Store believe its ridiculous that they must attend separate schools. They obviously recognize that regardless of skin colour, kids are kids. Draper often juxtaposes acts of kindness against acts of prejudice. For example, when Stella goes to get medicine for her sick brother at the general store, Mr. O'Brian allows her to pay for her purchases with what little money she has. Immediately after leaving the general store, she and Tony are set upon by a gang of white youths who beat up Tony accusing him of stealing the candy he paid for.

Draper has written a very good novel that captures the reality of life in America for African Americans in the 1930's. All of her characters are well drawn, believable and unique, from the heroine, Stella Mills, to the antihero, Dr. Packard. The seed for Stella By Starlight came from Draper's own grandmother, Estelle Twitty Mills Davis, who was forced to leave school in grade five but who spent her nights after everyone was asleep, outside writing in her journal.

Book Details:
Stella By Starlight by Sharon M. Draper
Toronto: Atheneum Books for Young Readers     2015
320 pp.

Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas

Tallgrass is a historical thriller set against the backdrop of World War II and the incarceration of Japanese Americans in internment camps during the war.

It was in the late summer of 1942, that the Japanese arrived at the old Tallgrass Ranch located a mile and a half from the town of Ellis, Colorado. Thirteen-year-old Rennie Stroud, like many of the locals, went to the Ellis train depot to watch the arrival of the first Japanese to be detained at Tallgrass, now a detention camp. People of Japanese ancestry from all over California were being rounded up and incarcerated in camps like Tallgrass and the townsfolk were not very happy about this. While some like Lum Smith "don't see nothing wrong with them", others like Mr. Rubey are convinced they are dangerous. But Rennie "expected them to look like the cartoons of Hirohito in the newspaper...was disappointed that they didn't appear to be a 'yellow peril' at all. They were so ordinary."

When Rennie's father, Loyal Stroud arrived at the depot, he was disappointed she had come to see "the Japs". He reminded her and the other townsfolk who are there to gawk, that these people are just "unlucky Americans". When's Rennie's father was approached by a reporter, Jeff Cheever from the Denver Post, to comment on the "Japs" coming to Tallgrass, he declined. This annoyed Rennie who was eager to see her father's name in the newspaper. It was evident the reporter didn't know much about the area because he wanted to know how the wheat farmers felt about the Japanese being incarcerated in Colorado. Loyal told him that they grow sugar beets not wheat. However, Lum Smith had no such reservations and offered a bigoted view of the Japanese and was more than glad to be photographed. Loyal's friend Redhead Joe Lee, who runs one of the drugstores in Ellis, told Loyal he should speak out so people will know many don't hate the Japanese.

Rennie and her parents live with her mother's mother, Granny on a sugar beet farm less than a mile from Ellis. Her twenty-one-year-old brother Buddy had been attending Colorado A and M in Fort Collins before he enlisted in the army after Pearl Harbor, while her older sister, eighteen-year-old Marthalice recently moved to Denver to work in an arms plant after graduating high school. Rennie's best friend is Betty Joyce Snow, whose parents run the hardware store.

When the government bought the old Tallgrass Ranch, the people of Ellis didn't think much about whether or not it was right or wrong to detain those of Japanese ancestry, many born in America and therefore citizens. Tallgrass was going to help the town of Ellis by providing jobs and customers to local businesses. But as the construction workers were drafted into the war, the partially constructed camp was left for the evacuees to finish building the barracks and the feelings about Tallgrass changed. Rennie's father was sad and troubled by what he saw when he visited Tallgrass; he found the barracks crowded, dusty and hot, the camp surrounded by barbwire and watchtowers manned by US troops. At this time there was no hospital, no library and not much of a school. But people in Ellis were not happy; Mr. Elliot who ran the other drugstore in town, placed a sign in his store window mocking the Japanese saying "No Japs Served." Shortly afterwards the Elliot drugstore was robbed and later on the train trestle was set afire. Many townsfolk blamed the Japanese at Tallgrass.

To quell dissent and rumours, the government decided to hold a meeting about the camp. Mr. Halleck who ran the camp explained to the town about the security guards with rifles, but people complained about everything including the fact that the Tallgrass school has a science lab and that the food is better. With Buddy at army camp, Rennie and her family struggled to harvest their sugar beet crop. This leads Loyal Stroud to ask if he can hire the Japanese from Tallgrass to harvest his sugar beets. Mr. Gardner, another farmer, also wants to hire Japanese men for the harvest. But their efforts were thwarted by the prejudice of the Ellis townsfolk who considered Stroud's request "un-American".  Mr. Spano, whose son Danny had been released by the US Army after injuring his foot, wanted to know who will protect the women if the Japanese men go to work on the farms. In the end, the sugar beet harvest in 1942 was taken in by Mexican workers.

By the fall of 1942, the war in Europe and the Pacific is now going poorly. This has led to shortages of gasoline, farm equipment, clothing and food, although Rennie's family is luckier than most because they can grow their own food.  Rennie's mom travels to visit Marthalice in Denver for two weeks because she isn't well well. When Marthalice recovers she moves out of Cousin Hazel's home and into her own room in an old mansion.

Over Christmas, Buddy arrives home on leave. During his time home, Buddy and Rennie experience first hand the prejudice towards the Japanese by the people of Ellis. At the Lee Drugstore they meet three young Japanese boys who have sneaked out of Tallgrass. Buddy is kind towards the boys, but in doing so he is mocked by Jack Beaner and his friend Pete.  They learn later from Sheriff Watrous, that the Japanese boys were attacked by three men on their way back to the camp with the youngest being injured by a rock thrown at him. Rennie is certain it was Beaner, Danny and Pete who were involved in the attack. Loyal tells them that there have been many rock-throwing incidents. Loyal and Buddy disagree on the whether the Japanese are truly American or still loyal to Japan. When Loyal questions his son about whether or not he's concerned that the Japanese Americans have had their rights taken away, Buddy says "No, sire. They're not the only ones. Besides, their rights are only being suspended. Our boys who've been killed, now their rights are gone for good."

Then one night a huge snowstorm hits Ellis, the wind howling and pushing the snow through the slats in the house. The next morning, Sheriff Watrous stops at the Stroud farm with devastating news: young Susan Reddick, who had been slightly crippled after contracting polio, has been raped, murdered and left dead in a haystack outside the barn. Horrified at the brutal crime, Rennie's parents and the Sheriff consider possible suspects including local troublemaker, Jack Beaner and possibly the Japanese from Tallgrass. After a visit to Tallgrass, Loyal and the Sheriff feel that the Japanese are not involved in the murder of little Susan.

When Rennie and her parents visit the Reddick's to comfort them, Rennie notices details about Susan's bedroom. She questions Sheriff Watrous as to why Susan would have left the house during a blizzard instead of using her chamber pot. This convinces Sheriff Watrous that someone entered the Reddick farmhouse and then killed Susan.

After the funeral and into February of 1943, Loyal Stroud hires three Japanese boys, Carl Tanaka, Emory Kuruma and Harry Hirano to help with the sugar beet planting. The boys are polite and hard workers and became like family to the Strouds. Soon after, Mr. Gardner also hires a Japanese crew.  But all of this merely makes some in Ellis downright mean. The Strouds are ostracized; one of the quilters refuses to meet at the Strouds, manure is put into the bed of their truck, a dead cat is hung on their farm gate and Rennie is bullied at school. With the murder of Susan Reddick unsolved, the hatred towards the Japanese grows leading to more trouble and culminating in a deadly confrontation at the Stroud farm that uncovers a terrible family secret.

Discussion 

Tallgrass is a murder mystery set in the fictional Japanese internment camp of Tallgrass, in the American Midwest during the Second World War. It touches on many themes including the nature of prejudice, identity, betrayal, forgiveness and family secrets, of which there are plenty in this novel. 

This is not really a novel about the internment of Japanese Americans and the prejudice that put them there. While the initial chapters of Tallgrass focus on a community struggling to cope with the location of a Japanese internment camp on its doorstep, this storyline becomes secondary with the overwhelming drama that follows.  This drama culminates in the terrible murder at the Stroud's farm and the shocking revelations that come to light. Up until and including the murder of Susan Reddick, the story was realistic and believable. The murder of Susan Reddick and how this affected the small community of Ellis in relation to the internment camp would have provided more than enough themes to explore. Instead the Sheriff seems completely lost when investigating the murder of Susan and is helped more than once by thirteen-year-old Rennie Stroud who seems to have more sense than the entire town of Ellis combined.

After this point,  Dallas simply heaps on the drama, the rape of Daisy which is not revealed until the end of the novel but which readers will quickly surmise, the drama surrounding Betty Joyce and her morphine addicted father, Buddy missing in action in Europe, the death of Harry Hirano, and the health problems of Rennie Stroud's mother. All of this means Tallgrass is a novel that attempts too much. 

Tallgrass does initially focus on the prejudice that existed in America during World War II and especially after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese arrive at Tallgrass, the locals are astonished that they don't look very much different than the townspeople. Lum Smith states, "I don't see nothing wrong with them. They don't even hardly look like Japs, some of 'em anyway." However, it is Mr. Rubey who declares it is this similarity that makes them so dangerous. Several people like Mr. Martin believe they should be sent back to where they came from, meaning he believes they are from Japan, while he is a recent immigrant, after the First World War, from Italy.  When Rennie uses the derogatory "Jap", her father, Loyal corrects her, saying, "I believe they are called Japanese."

Tallgrass is a coming of age story, in which Rennie starts the story as an innocent young girl who quickly comes to learn that life can be complicated. She learns first hand about hatred and prejudice just by watching how the people from Ellis react towards the Japanese who are so different from them.  From the beginning Rennie is able to put herself in the place of the evacuees at Tallgrass, wondering how she would feel if she were forced to move to a camp. "...I suddenly felt sorry for the Japanese. What if the government had taken over our farm and sent us far away on the train, and nobody would tell us our destination" Despite this, Rennie realizes that "...the people at Tallgrass were different from us, and they still scared me." 

By the end of the novel Rennie is a fourteen-year-old girl who has witnessed a murder, had two of her best friends raped, learned of young men who were killed in the war and is trying to cope with a sick mother and a brother in a German POW camp. She learns that life is filled with betrayal, lies and the keeping of secrets. Her mother tells her about her sister's baby but Rennie is not allowed to speak about it.

Loyal Stroud and his daughter Rennie are reminiscent of Atticus Finch and his daughter Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird, Loyal is the honorable, tolerant man who stands up to the bigots in the town of Ellis, providing a fine example of charity towards others to his younger daughter whom he affectionately calls "Squirt". Rennie can also see the injustice being done to the Japanese Americans. "They've been handed the wrong end of the stick....The government makes them move to Tallgrass, and then it tells them to build their own jail."   

Dallas excels at creating detailed settings, providing her readers with a true sense of prairie life during the war and the attitudes that prevailed at the time about who were true, loyal Americans. Small town America's attitudes towards outsiders of any kind and those who didn't agree with them are also accurately portrayed. Overall this was novel that engages readers initially. It moves swiftly through one crisis after the next but does offer detail about the rural town life in America. Readers won't learn much about World War II nor even about the Japanese internment, but they will learn how Americans felt about their fellow Japanese citizens and how they were viewed unfairly as potential traitors during the war.

Book Details:
Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas
New York: St. Martin's Press     2007
305 pp.

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

The Distance Between Us is a delightful romance novel in which a young woman must overcome her prejudice towards a guy to give their relationship a chance - much like Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.

Caymen Meyers is a seventeen year old senior whose mother, Susan, owns a doll shop. Caymen and her mother aren't well off and her mother has taught Caymen to have a healthy disdain for wealthy men. This is based on her mother's experience of falling in love with a wealthy lawyer, getting pregnant and then being abandoned by the man. As a result, her mother who was disowned by her parents, settled in an obscure town to live a quiet life. She has raised Caymen not to trust men with money and she has encouraged Caymen not to seek out her father.

However, Caymen's own prejudice against the rich is tested one day when a handsome, wealthy boy, Alexander (Xander) Spence,  arrives at the doll shop to pick up a doll for his grandmother. He's well dressed but although his initial manner appears to be condescending, he's friendly and charming to Caymen. Because  Xander appears to be wealthy, Caymen has no intention of getting involved with him. "The first thing I learned about the rich is that they find the common folk an amusing distraction but would never, ever want anything real."

Soon Caymen discovers that Xander is the grandson of a regular patron, Mrs. Dalton. Xander appreciates Caymen's sarcasm and genuinely likes her. So he keeps coming around to the doll shop, bringing her hot chocolate and driving her to school. All this despite Caymen's best efforts to turn him off her.  Meanwhile Caymen's best friend, Skye, sets her up with a guy named Mason from her boyfriend's band. Mason is cute, but very different from Xander. For one thing, he's not rich, and he has a lip ring. Caymen goes to Mason's concerts but she's unsure about her relationship with him.

Caymen learns that Xander is from a family that owns a hotel chain and that he is being groomed to take over the family business one day. This shocking revelation causes Caymen to wonder why he is so interested in her and leads her to believe that she is simply a distraction for him. However, the two seem to develop a bond that is based not only on physical attraction but also because they are struggling with their parent's expectations for their lives. Xander does not want to run the family business and Caymen wants to go to college to study science.

As their relationship develops, Caymen visits Xander's home, meets his mother, and they both spend time on what they call "career days" where they consider possible future jobs. Despite their growing relationship and the fact that Caymen really cares for Xander, she waffles on committing to their relationship and she refuses to have Xander meet her mother because she knows she won't approve. When she discovers a significant piece of information about her mother's family, Caymen doubts Xander's motive for dating her. Can Caymen get past her prejudice towards rich guys, and let herself be open to Xander?

Discussion

The Distance Between Us combines a sweet romance with witty dialogue and a cast of interesting characters. West incorporates a number of themes into her novel; identity, acceptance, prejudicial first impressions of others and discovering one's own path in life.

Caymen is an intelligent, strong character who matures through the novel. At first she's certain her mother's view of rich guys is the correct one. But Xander treats her generously and kindly, and despite the fact that she walks out on him many times, remains faithful to their relationship, suggesting that he's not one to be easily distracted. This goes against everything that Caymen knows and forces her to reconsider her prejudice against wealth. This change of heart is in part fueled by a discovery of prejudices held by her mother's parents.

Overall, The Distance Between Us is a well paced story that will appeal to readers who like light romance with a touch of suspense. A second novel about Caymen and Xander would be wonderful!

Book Details:
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West
New York: HarperTeen    2013
312 pp.

Violet by Tania Duprey Stehlik

Violet is dreading her first day at her new school. She is worried she might not be liked by anyone, but her mother encourages her to just be herself.When Violet arrives at school she sees red kids, yellow kids and blue kids and she tries her best to blend in.

After a day of crafts and fun, while waiting for her dad to pick her up, someone points out to Violet that her father is blue. Caught off guard, Violet realizes that she is not blue or red or yellow like the rest of her classmates. Why isn't she blue like her father or red like her mother?With some help from her mother, Violet learns that it doesn't matter what colour your skin is.

Violet is a poignant story with an important message reminding us that the colour of our skin is unimportant. What is important is to be true to ourselves. Each person is unique in their own way, regardless of skin colour. Violet is beautifully illustrated by Vania Vuleta Jovanovic, a multimedia artist based in Toronto, Canada. Jovanovic's unique style further enhances the message of this delicious little picture book!

Book Details:
Violet by Tania Duprey Stehlik
Toronto: Second Story Press  2009