Exemplary Evaluator May 4:

1. Graduated college for Journalism
2. Worked at Business Insider
3. Was the first female Bureau Chief of Business Insider
4. Is an author
5. At the writing of this book, she had written 7 novels
6. While working at Business Insider she wrote about everything that happened in the Rocky Mountains
7. This included energy development and contemporary polygamy
8. Many of her experiences are written in her books
9. She was born on November 6, 1939 and is 77 years old
10. She started her writing career with nonfiction
11. Her book The Quilt That Walked to Golden won the Independent Publisers Assn. Benjamin Franklin award
12. She began writing fiction in 1990
13. She is a three-time recipient of the Women Writing the West Willa award
14. She is a two-time winner of the National Cowboy Museum's Wranger award
15. She is also a two-time winner of the Western Writer's of America Spur Award
16. She is the mother of two daughters
17. She lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband Bob
18. She won the 2014 Eleanor Gheres Award from the Denver Public Library
19. She also won the Pike's Peak Library District's 2014 Frank Waters Award
20. Her daughters are a Lawyer and a Photographer
21. She is a New York Bestselling author
22. She was called a "Quintessential American Voice" by Jane Smiley
23. Wrote seven Nonfiction books
24. As of today she has written 13 adult novels
25. Has written 2 children's novels

Connection Builder May 3:

Japanese internment camps in World War II are similar in some ways to modern day Syrian refugees. Both groups of people are discriminated against just because of their ethnicity. Both groups of people have had hate crimes committed against them. In addition, both incidents happen during a war. However, not everything is the same. For example, the groups are different and the Japanese were also put in internment camps. One might prevent this from happening again by being less assumptuous. For example, one should not group all of a certain ethnicity together just because of a couple of outlying people. In addition, the american public should not let this issue get all the way to putting other syrians or middle easterns in internment camps.

Character Captain May 2:

Word Wizard May 1:

Literary Luminary April 28:

Discussion Director April 26:

Exemplary Evaluator April 25:

Connection Builder April 24:

Rennie and I have several things in common. Several of these include not being judgemental, hating bullies, and worrying. Rennie and I both tend to worry about our families and the ones we love. In addition, we also both tend to worry about our own health. We both try not to judge people because it's rude and we don't know if they judge us. Lastly, we both hate bullies and will try to stand up for those that are in need of help, especially people we care about.

Character Captain April 21:

Literary Luminary april 19:

Discussion Directory April 18:

In the novel Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas in the genre of Historical Fiction, Rennie (the main character) is a nice, trusting thirteen year old girl. However, she can also worry about things like most people. In addition to this she is a very loving person who values her family highly. She loves her mother and father and grandmother and wishes her family could be together again. Because her brother Buddy and her sister Marthalice left to help with the war, she often does many chores, this doesn't stop her from missing them though.

Rennie is nice to almost everyone. Almost because Beaner Jack and his friends are very rude to her and tend to bully others, because of this she does not like them and does not try to be nice to her like she is to others. However, she never starts fights or arguments no matter how badly she wants to. In addition, she values her family very highly. For example, when Buddy came home from the war she was overjoyed.

Despite all this, she can still worry. Many times she wished that her brother was home and worried about his health. In addition, she sends her sister Marthalice letters often and reads her sisters replies every night as well as keeping them in a box under her bed. Despite the Japanese being in Tallgrass she seldom worries about them or her health. Until one day a girl named Sarah is murdered. "What if I'd been murdered and Mom and Dad had found me naked, and the sheriff had come and looked at me?" is what she thought, scared that the same thing would happen to her.

In conclusion, Rennie tends to be nice towards and trust people. In addition, she loves her family to death, caring about them more than anyone else. Because her brother Buddy and her sister Marthalice are at, or working in a factory for the war, she has to do most of their chores. However this does not stop her from loving them. Lastly, Rennie is still human, she still worries about her family members and her health, hoping that they will all be a family again after the war.

Exemplary Evaluator April 17:

Connection Builder April 13:

In the Whispering Town Jews are hiding from the Nazi's in Annett's cellar. In Tallgrass the Japanese are living at an internment camp in Tallgrass, Colorado. Both stories take place in World War II. In addition both stories take place in a small town with not many people. Both stories also involve someone who sympathises for the oppressed people in their town. Both stories main characters are young girls that live with their parents and no siblings. Among the differences between the stories are the locations and the type of people that are oppressed. The Whispering Town also involves Nazi soldiers while Tallgrass does not.

Character Captain April 12:

Rennie

Nice, Intelligent, Unsuspicious, Loyal

Sister of Buddie Stroud

Family, Black Licorice, Her Brother and Sister

Confusion, Joy, Curious

Being judged, the Japanese Being in Her Town, Buddie Dying in the War

Who was the First to See Buddy When He Returned From Duty to Visit

Wanted to See Her Family Together Again, Wanted to See Her Grandma get Better

Tallgrass

Stroud

Literary Luminary April 10:

• "I expected them them to look like the cartoons of Hirohito in the newspaper, with slanted eyes and buckteeth and skin like rancid butter" pg. 2-The political cartoons smeared the Japanese and drastically over-exaggerated their features.
• "The summer I was thirteen, the Japanese came to Ellis." pg. 1-When Rennie was thirteen the Japanese were moved to internment camps in certain states, such as colorado.
• "But at least he wouldn't smack me the way Betty Joyce's father smacked her." pg. 7-Based on the way Rennie says this it appears that Betty Joyce's father abuses her.
• " 'Don't tell these people where they're at. Don't you know nothing?' " pg. 3-The people of Ellis, Colorado are wary of the Japanese and disliked that they were in Ellis.
• "A man beside her observed, 'I thought they'd have buckteeth. They don't have buckteeth." pg. 4-The people of Ellis are surprised that the Japanese don't look like the cartoons.' "
• " ' That's why they're so dangerous,' Mr. Rubey said. 'You'd not hardly think they was the enemy. But it's a fact. Some of them have a shortwave with a direct line to Tojo.' " pg. 6-Mr. Rubey believes the Japanese are bad and states his opinion about how they can betray America in the blink of an eye.