Duke is on the Maine Student Book Award list for this year and when I looked at Dash I was expecting a similar book. The book also takes place during World War II but in this book Mitsi is of Japanese descent and is sent to the camps with her family. During the book she suffers from the prejudicial attitudes at the time and learns to make the best of the situation. Her dog, Dash, is not allowed to go with the family to the camps and is taken care of by her neighbor. Throughout the story, Dash writes letters to Mitsi and she writes back. She later finds out the letters were actually written by her friend Mags.
As I have been promoting Duke this year for MSBA I have warned the kids that despite the title and the cover that book is more about the boy than the dog. It is the same with Dash...the book is mainly about Mitsi. Not a real problem...the book was good...but I want kids to know.
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