Dash
Fifth grader Mitzi Kashino finds that everything has changed after Pearl Harbor. Her former friends now shun her because she is a Japanese-American. Her grandmother must be fingerprinted. Her father loses his job. An elderly woman, Mrs. Bowker, rescues Mitzi one day from bullies. Mitzi finds solace with her dog, Dash, and her new friend, Mrs. Bowker. When the family is incarcerated (as were many Japanese-Americans) in Camp Harmony and then to Minidoka, Idaho, they are forced to give up their home and most of their possessions. Most heartbreaking of all, dogs are not allowed in the camps. Mrs. Bowker keeps Dash for Mitzi and sends Mitzi letters as if Dash had written them. Mitzi shares the letters with the other internees and finds a new community to replace the one she had lost.
Mitzi’s story effectively shows the injustice of the Japanese internment camps in an appropriate way for younger audiences. Although Mitzi has lost everything familiar, the one thing that matters to her is Dash, a sentiment that will resonate with many readers. We root for Mitzi, a true victim of circumstance, throughout because of her bravery and dogged determination to get Dash back. Especially interesting was the way the Japanese internees managed to hold onto to their culture and dignity in a horrifying situation. Mrs. Bowker’s back story is compelling – once she had looked the other way when a German friend was harassed during WWI. She has always regretted her actions and is attempting to atone by helping Mitzi. This is essentially a story about a girl and her dog, and Dash teaches readers about friendship and a terrible episode in America’s past. The text includes an author’s note.
