Skip to content
Responsive image
Vendor
Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories

DASH

Kirby Larson

The moving story of a Japanese-American girl who is separated from her dog upon being sent to an incarceration camp during WWII.
Although Mitsi Kashino and her family are swept up in the wave of anti-Japanese sentiment in their home state of Washington following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mitsi never expects to lose her home –or her beloved dog, Dash.

But, as World War II rages and people of Japanese descent are forced into incarceration camps, Mitsi is separated from Dash, her classmates, and life as she knows it. The camp is a crowded and unfamiliar place, whose dusty floors, seemingly endless lines, and barbed wire fences begin to unravel the strong Kashino family ties. With the help of a friendly neighbor back home, Mitsi remains connected to Dash in spite of the hard times, holding on to the hope that the war will end soon and life will return to normal. Though they've lost their home, will the Kashino family also lose their sense of family? And will Mitsi and Dash ever be reunited?

Kirby Larson is the acclaimed author of the 2007 Newbery Honor Book, HATTIE BIG SKY and follow-up HATTIE EVER AFTER (Delacorte Books for Young Readers 2013). She is the author of THE FENCES BETWEEN US (Delacorte Book for Young Readers 2010) and THE FRIENDSHIP DOLL (2011). Kirby often collaborates with her good friend, Mary Nethery, which has resulted in TWO BOBBIES: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival, (Walker 2008), and NUBS: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle (Little, Brown 2009), which spent 12 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list.
Available products
Book

Published 2014-08-01 by Scholastic Press

Book

Published 2014-08-01 by Scholastic Press

Comments

Spot-on dialogue, careful cultural details and the inclusion of specific historical characters ...make this an educational read as well as a heartwarming one...This emotionally satisfying and thought-provoking book will have readers pulling for Mitsi and Dash.

A companion novel to Larson’s DUKE, DASH is another diverting wartime dog story likely to appeal even to dog lovers who aren’t yet historical fiction fans.

...this book helps readers understand the hardship that Japanese American citizens endured while at the same time offers a story of one girl with relatable hopes and worries.

As she did in Duke (2013), Larson centers this trenchant novel on a child dealing with hardships on the home front during WWII, including separation from a beloved dog. Inspired by real-life wartime events, the novel vividly communicates the emotional and physical ordeals endured by Japanese-Americans evacuated to relocation camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. A pall descends early in the story, as 11-year-old Mitsi Kashino contends with classmates’ slurs and snubs, including some from her two best friends. After learning of her family’s impending relocation, Mitsi is devastated to discover that her one steadfast ally, her dog Dash, cannot accompany them. Asking a neighbor to take care of Dash, “Mitsi thought she had cried out all her tears, but a couple more leaked out.” Reprising the narrative conceit used in Duke, Larson incorporates correspondence between the girl and Dash, whose letters are the work of a surprising ghostwriter. Despite the hurdles Mitsi faces, hope, resourcefulness, and a new friend help this relatable heroine triumph.