"Dash" Book Review

1.      Bibliography

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

2.      Plot Summary

Eleven year old, Mitsi Kashino is a Japanese-American girl living in the Seattle area with her family, great friends, and best of all, her beloved dog Dash.  It is January during WWII, a month after Pearl Harbor, and Mitsi’s life is changed forever.  Mitsi and her family are sent to an incarceration camp because they are of Japanese descent, an anti-Japanese movement that swept through the United States during this time.  Devastated to leave her home, her belongings, her friends, and most of all her dog Dash, Mitsi must ask a lonely neighbor who came to her rescue after school one day and saved her from some bullies, to keep her dog Dash because she was not allowed to bring him with her.  The neighbor agrees and the two of them exchange letters to help Mitsi feel close to Dash and home.  At the camp, her family struggles with living conditions, proper meals, no privacy using the restroom, and feeling like they are losing the strong Kashino family ties they had at home.  Mitsi finds true friendship and the hope of one day leaving the camp and returning home to Dash.  She and her family are moved to another camp with less restrictions, and Mitsi is thrilled to learn Dash can come stay with her until they may return home.

3.      Critical Analysis

Kirby Larson picks remarkable character to share about what it was like for Japanese-American families during WWII who readers instantly fall in love with.  The use of language and dialog, events, historical figures, and cultural details within the story stay true to life in the incarceration camps.  The information is presenting cleverly to a younger audience and still reveals the hardships and struggles of Mitsi’s experience.  Dog lovers will connect and relate to the sadness of leaving an animal not by one’s own choice, and readers get a sense of family values, what true friendship is, and that good things can come out of poor circumstances.  Larson based Mitsi on a true character and includes information at the back of the book with an author’s note and acknowledgments where readers can find more information about life during WWII.   

4.      Review Excerpt(s)

Kirkus Reviews – “Exceptionally well-crafted and emotionally authentic.”

Publishers Weekly – “This incisive tale of loyalty, patriotism, sacrifice, and bravery transcends…”

5.      Connections

*Students will follow this link to use as a guide to find more books about WWII:

The Children’s War:  https://thechildrenswar.blogspot.com/2014/08/dash-by-kirby-larson.html

*Students will use the link provided in the “Acknowledgments” section in the back of the book to learn more about life at Camp Harmony or at Minidoka:  Densho.org