Book: Island Of The Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

Pages/Format: 181/Paperbook

My Thoughts: It’s been a while since I’ve read it, but it’s still one of my favorite books.  The first time I read it was in elementary school, and I’ve read it several times since then.  After the frustration of reading Beloved, I wanted to read something lighter.

I remembered why I loved it so much in the first place.  It’s the story of Karana, who is stranded on an island with her brother Ramo.  He’s left behind on the island, and even thoug Karana wants the ship she’s on to wait for him, they can’t because of an approaching storm.  He dies, leaving Karana alone on the island for several years.  She takes on a lot of the tasks that were done by the males in her village, like hunting and making spears.

I loved the plot, and how she managed to survive for what seems like quite a while.  The author’s note at the end intrigued me: O’Dell writes that the novel is based on a real woman who lived on an island off the California coast from 1835 to 1853.  She is apparently known as the Lost Woman of San Nicolas and really jumped off the boat despite all efforts to restrain her.  I’m definitely curious about the historical aspects, since the whole novel seems to be based on history.  I may research it at some point, to see how accurate his claims really are, but her skirt of green cormorant feathers was sent to Rome- it doesn’t say where, unfortunately, because I’d definitely want to check it out.

I found her to be a very sympathetic character- trying to survive on the island while waiting for someone to come back and rescue her.  She gets used to being by herself until the Aleuts come back, and she befriends Tutok, realizing she was lonely after they left.  A couple ships come after that, and in the end, she decides to leave the island with her dog and 2 birds.

Rating: It gets a 4 out of 5.  It’s not the best thing I’ve ever read, but I love the story, and seeing her survive on the island.