Rating: - Island of the Blue Dolphins
This is the story of Karana, a young Indian girl raised on an island off the coast of California. Supposedly it is based on a true story, and it tells of how she survived on her native island after all of her people were removed and her younger brother was killed. The reader never knows why Karana's people were removed from the island, which would have helped me understand the story a bit better.
While Scott O'Dell is a good storyteller, there are some gaps that I wished he had explained better. For instance, when the Aleuts first came to the island when Karana's father was still ... Read More
Rating: - A True Survivor
Winner of the Newbery Award, "Island of the Blue Dolphins" tells the story of Karana, a young Indian woman who becomes the sole occupant on a small island in the Pacific for several years. Based on a real woman who lived alone on San Nicolas Island from 1835 to 1853, it tells a moving story of survival where a woman with little means is forced to become resourceful, physically and emotionally strong and above all kept afloat by that fragilest of threads called hope.
When a band of Russian sailors called the Aleuts land on the island, their presence quickly becomes a bad omen for the ... Read More
Rating: - Classic adventure
This is a story I have read many times since I was a child. I'm sure every little girl goes through that phase where she would like nothing more than to be a wild maiden living alone with the animals, and that is probably the basis of a lot of appeal. But that does destract from the fact that this is an incredibly written, incredibly moving story of survival and the overcoming of loneliness.
Based on an old story of a woman who survived for 18 years by herself, this tells the story of a young girl who is left on an island after her people build ships and leave their homeland. She jumps ... Read More
Rating: - Dolphin book for school
We received this book very quickly, in the described condition. It was an earlier print of the book with a smaller font, but overall it was a great
buying experience.
Rating: - Just didn't excite me
My babysitter got this out for my 8 year old daughter who loves to read, and I started reading it first to see if she would like it. I remember reading it as a child but couldn't remember whether I liked it or not. As an adult I found it somewhat interesting but not captivating. Nothing much happens, and I didn't think it was written in a way which would excite my daughter. I found myself wishing Scott ODell were a better writer--the descriptions of how food or clothing is made from natural products are so thin, compared to the Little House books (which are masterpieces). Since so many people seem to ... Read More
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