Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

By -


            Island of the Blue Dolphins is a thrilling story with a wonderful message. My mom has been encouraging me to read this book for years because it was always her favorite book as a child, and now that I have finally read I am so glad I did. This book begins with 12 year old Karana, an Island Native to the Island of Blue Dolphins. One day a group of Russian men come to her island to hunt the otter that live there. The Island Natives obviously do not like the Russian men stealing their resources, which leads to an argument where many of the islanders and Karana’s father die. The women and children are left vulnerable on the island until a group of white men arrive and takes all the islanders aboard. In all the commotion, Karana and her brother are left behind alone on the island. Unfortunately, her brother is soon killed by a group of wild dogs leaving Karana alone on the island.
            This is when the story begins to get interesting. Karana lives for years on the island alone groveling in the memory of her lost family and making many adventures. She makes friends with wolves who she names after her family and makes many attempts to escape the island to freedom. The rest of the story follows Karana’s journeys and adventures on the island and her possible course to her people, or any people for that matter.
            I think this is a great book. Most people would read this book in elementary school, but I think even if you are older this is an interesting book to read. I think this book teaches about the history of altercations as people discovered the Native people of other unknown lands. I loved the lesson it taught, especially because it is mainly being read by young children who have not been taught about this subject matter yet. I also love the books portrayal of a wonderful, strong female lead, which I think many young girls would love to read about. I think the only problem with this book is simply caused by the lack of other characters for a good portion of the book. Without dialogue and simply one character interacting with animals, it can become kind of bleak sometimes. Overall, I think this book teaches a great lesson and you should definitely read it even if it’s written for younger readers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"The Giver" will not disappoint!

By -
During spring break I was able to commit much more time to leisure reading and I thoroughly enjoyed The Giver by Lois Lowry. This book is about a sort of distopian world in which everything is the same. There is no color, no true emotions, no change of weather, no choices to make or that can be made, and most importantly, there is no love. The main character is a boy named Jonas. In each family unit, there is a father and mother who get paired up when they apply for a spouse and then every couple has one girl and one boy. Jonas' family unit is no different, he has a sister named Lily and and his mom and dad. They live in an assigned community and besides occasional field trips that students sometimes take, they know very few people outside of their community. Every year, there is a large ceremony at which everyone from newchildren (babies) turning one to kids turning twelve is congratulated for moving on to their new age and responsibilities. There a few years that are especiall...
Read more

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

By -
Since quarantine started, I have found myself having a lot more time than usual, so I decided to reread a book that I enjoyed in the past. Lord of the Flies by William Golding follows young boys that have survived a plane crash and landed on a mysterious island (with no adult supervision). Ralph, with the help of another boy called Piggy, quickly takes charge and gets the other boys to start thinking of ways to be rescued. Using a conch shell as a way to gather everyone, Ralph quickly distributes roles and makes a boy named Jack as the leader of the hunters. Jack quickly rose in popularity after successfully hunting a pig and decided that he wanted to form his own group, one he was the leader of. Left alone with only their imagination and minimal survival skills, the boys have to learn to endure the island (and each other) until someone finds them. Just a warning, from this point on, there will be spoilers! Something that I disliked about the book was how quickly everything seemed...
Read more

"Echo" Book Review

By -
SOME SPOILERS I have recently finished "Echo" by Pam Muñoz Ryan. It was such a captivating book which I am glad I read. This boo follows 3 different stories, but all connected by one thing. A harmonica. Each of these stories is very different with completely different plots and characters but with all of them, the harmonica brings them joy and comfort. The first story follows a boy named Friedrich in 1933 in Germany in the time when the Nazi party is taking power. He has a face deformity and is often made fun of for it. But it also means he is more of a target to the Nazis, because he is not "perfect". Friedrich has a sister, Elisabeth, who has always protected and stood up for him. But since moving away from home, she has joined the "League of German Girls" which is a division from the "Hitler Youth" group. Her ideals have changed and shes not the same. Friedrich's dad works at a harmonica factory and one day at the factory Friedrich finds...
Read more