Dash

 Bibliography: Larson, Kirby. 2014. DASH. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN 9780545416351

Plot Summary: Mitsi Kashino is a young Japanese American girl who lives in Seattle with her family goes through a life-changing experience because of who she is.  In December, right before  Christmas break, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the military base in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mitsi doesn’t fully understand what that means for her, her family, and the community which they live in, but she will soon learn how people treat others who may share common things but don’t look like them.  After the Christmas break, Mitsi returns to school to find that her best friends no longer want to hang out with her.  A group of boys pick on her because she is Japanese and the popular girl, Patty is outright rude to Mitsi.  Mitsi doesn’t understand why Mags and Judy, no longer want to be friends with her.  Soon, there are notes being left with the word, “Jap” on them and drawings of Japanese people in mean poses. Businesses placed signs in the window, indicating that they were, “Chinese”. One evening, Mitsi is out with her brother Ted as he collects the money for his paper route.  Afterwards, they go to the soda fountain and while there, Mitsi along with her brother see a sign that is posted about people of Japanese ancestry must leave their homes and go to stay at a camp. Mitsi doesn’t understand what is happening and why this is happening to her and her family. No one in her family has ever been to Japan except Mitsi’s grandmother (she was born there and left at age 16). Mitsi has to decide what she will take and she knows it will be her dog, Dash. Unfortunately, Mitsi learns that pets aren’t allowed at the camp and so Dash goes to stay with a neighbor. Mitsi and her family are taken to the fairgrounds where they must now live until the government releases them to return home. Mitsi does her best to adjust to her new surroundings and one of the things that keeps her spirit up are letters she receives from Dash via Mrs. Bowker. 

Critical Analysis: In this moving story about a girl who has to live through a tumultuous time in history, Kirby Larson writes about a historical event that changed so many people’s lives.  Mrs. Larson writes with care and great detail about a Japanese American family who has to relocate because of the bombing at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. In her story, Mrs. Larson writes about Mitsi and how she lives the life of a typical 11 year old until that unfortunate moment occurs in history.  She takes care with weaving details about the Pearl Harbor bombing, the soldiers posting notices in the community, and the experience of being sent to a camp.  Mrs. Larson is mindful of her audience of readers and so she does an excellent job of not making the historical details sound too scary.  She shows the reader how something so horrible can have something good come out of it. Mrs. Larson takes great care it seems in her research and does her best to provide authentic details.

Review Excerpt(s):

Kirkus Reviews (starred): ”Larson makes this terrible event in American history personal with the story of one girl and her beloved pet. Spot-on dialogue, careful cultural details and the inclusion of specific historical characters such as artist Eddie Sato make this an educational read as well as a heartwarming one.”

Publishers Weekly: “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.”

Connections:

Teachers can use this book to talk about the events that lead the United States to join in World War II. It is good for children in grades 4-7.

This book can also be used as a supplemental reading for students in Washington state; talking about the state’s role in the internment of Japanese Americans and how it impacted the communities in which they lived.

A few historical pieces found on the Internet:

Historylink.org: Takami, David. 1998. World War II Japanese American Internment- Seattle/King County. Accessed: 2022, July 18.

https://www.sos.wa.gov/archives/japanese-internment.aspx Washington State Archives

This review are my own words and are part of a graduate studies class at Sam Houston State University.