Dash (Dogs of World War II) - Hardcover

Kirby Larson is the acclaimed author of the 2007 Newbery Honor Book Hattie Big Sky; its sequel, Hattie Ever After; The Friendship Doll; Dear America: The Fences Between Us; Duke; Dash, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction; Liberty; Code Word Courage; Audacity Jones to the Rescue; and its sequel, Audacity Jones Steals the Show. She has also cowritten the award-winning picture books Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival and Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine, and a Miracle. She lives in Washington with her husband and Winston the Wonder Dog.

From DASHMitsi skirted around a puddle. It used to be that her friends thought Japanese things were nifty, like Obaachan's kimonos and celebrating Hina Matsuri. Last year, Judy and Mags had come over before the party to set out the hina dolls and help make the rice balls. Now, they were taking sides with Patty Tibbets. There wasn't a red umbrella big enough to shield Mitsi from that kind of rain. A few blocks from home, she passed some junior high boys hanging out in front of the Higo 10 cent Store, pretending to smoke candy cigarettes. "Hey!" One of them called out to her. Mitsi didn't answer. She kept walking. The boys followed. She walked faster. They walked faster. Mitsi ran. They ran. Right in front of the Nelsons' old house, Mitsi tripped and fell. Her book bag went flying. A boy in a plaid jacket snatched it up and yanked out Mitsi's report. "Aww. Iddin dat sweet? A paper about doggies." He ripped it into shreds, tossing them into the air. "Look, it's snowing!" A scrap with Miss Wyatt's green ink words -- Another fine job, Mitsi -- landed on Mitsi's coat. The boy dumped the book bag out on the soggy ground. A second boy kicked her books into a puddle. All of them. Even her new sketch pad. Knees stinging, Mitsi pushed herself up off the sidewalk. Blood oozed around the edges of the ragged holes in her stockings. Tears boiled at the back of her eyes. "Serves you right." The boy in the plaid jacket glared. He and his buddies formed a ring around her. "Remember Pearl Harbor, remember Pearl Harbor," they chanted.