Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O'dell
By: Noa Hay
book summary:
The story describes the life story of Karana. Karana was the daughter of an Indian chief, and lived with her tribe on the island of St. Nicholas. One day European hunters came to the island, and hurt the Indian tribal members- What caused the departure of all the tribe. Karana and her brother remained alone on the island, hoping someone will come back to take them away from there. But, a few days later, a flock of wild dogs killed her brother and Karana was left alone. Karana was fighting for her life. She fought, hunt, built, cooked and More... After a long time, a ship arrived and found Karana and she started her new life.
This book is based on the true story of Juana Maria, "The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island," a women that left alone for 18 years on San Nicolas Island. She was found on the island in 1853, wearing a skirt made of feathers, and beside her was her dog.
Scott O'dell- the book author
Scott O'Dell was born in California in 1898 and began writing children's books after he wrote several novels for adults. "Island of the Blue Dolphin" was written in 1960. This was his first children's book. Many of his books are talking about historical topics, such as the shameful attitude of Europeans to the Americas minority cultures, environmental protection awareness and gender equality.
“I had never noticed before how silent the village was. Fog crept in and out of the empty huts. It made shapes as it drifted and they reminded me of all the people who were dead and those who were gone. The noise of the surf seemed to be their voices speaking.”
Karana
Ramo
My opinion
The book is an adventurous and suspense one. The story is very exciting and interesting and makes you want to keep reading all the time without stopping. The fact that the book is telling a true story, makes the story more exciting and more interesting! The book is very thrilling and there's always something happening. Although the book seems a little bit childish, I actually really liked it and I think it can fits to all ages. I learned many things about life from the story. The book made me wonder about a lot of questions like: How could I deal with such situation? Would I survive in these conditions? How loneliness would impact me? And many more questions ...