Island of the Blue Dolphins

A nice book! Read this as a child

Another book I read for school. I remember really liking this one.

A few weeks ago, a girlfriend of mine came down with THE SICKNESS. She was stuck in bed for like ten days straight, and it was up to me to entertain her. Remembering that my mom read this book to me when I was bedridden as a child, I thought it might make for a good read.

Island of the Blue Dolphins is very clearly a children's bedtime book. It reads a lot like a sitcom, each chapter something new and unrelated happens. And then the chapter ends, and something else happens. There's an earthquake. But everything is fine. She makes friends with an otter. She makes friends with a girl, who immediately leaves. That kind of thing.

So yeah, I get it. At ten minutes a chapter, IofBD is fun, yet episodic, enough to put someone to bed. I remembered loving it as a child, but it hasn't stood the test of time.

White men shouldn't write about issues they can't relate to. I respect that O'Dell had some historical knowledge and meant no foul intent. However, it comes of as white savior-y and holds a lot of inaccuracies. It's also wrong that white people are still profiting off of this book. That is all.

finished with Lucas

Karana is a young Indian girl stranded alone on her anscestral island. As the years go on and the ship does not come back, she must learn to survive on her own.

Her story is one of survival and courage. She must defend herself against the wild dogs roaming on the island, and somehow keep hope that the ship will return for her. She faces both trials and joys as she searches for food and shelter.

This story was such a sweet read, and one that all kids will enjoy!

Sadder than I remembered.

A reread from my childhood. I listened to it on Playaway...it might be 5 stars if I decide to reread in print, which I might do before the year is out. I'm just having a hard time thinking of it in the same way as other books I've given the top rating.

This is an engaging story of survival on a harsh island. I loved the descriptions of the way Karana painstakingly made her life on the island. It held my interest throughout the whole book even though there were few characters.

I was once again pretty surprised at how little I actually remembered from my first reading. I didn't even remember huge plot points like the circumstances that led to her solitary life. The worst of it is that I think I read this in school or at least as a school project...yikers.

A few months back it struck me that I really knew nothing about juvenile literature. As a child I read Choose Your Own Adventure, Garfield, and every year's edition of Guinness' Book of World Records. When I graduated from these, it was on to the breathtaking voyages of Captain Picard and crew. And then, after taking a few years off from reading, I returned to discover adult literature. I didn't care that I missed the classic children's and young adult books; in fact I often snubbed my nose at those who even associated literature with children—children couldn't possibly understand true literature.

For whatever reason I decided it was time to abandon this silly notion. In 2012, I would explore several books written for younger audiences. I would choose them based on my own inklings, allowing me to ignore Harry Potter or Twilight or whatever other fad thing I didn't want to associate with. I would judge the books according to my own standards and determine once and for all whether this vein of books was for me.

So, for my first foray into juvenile lit, I chose Island of the Blue Dolphins. I'm not entirely sure why I picked this one. I'd never heard of it before it popped up one day on my Goodreads. I'm not usually a fan of tales of adventure, but I figured it was as good of a place as any to start.

Once I had the book in hand, I thought I may as well invite my kiddos to listen to the story. Jaedon was interested, but Zaka declined, choosing instead to play computer. A couple chapters in Zaka was listening intently. And before I knew it, my wife was a part of the reading as well. They all were deeply engrossed in the story (Rhys could care less, but he's two and there just weren't enough pictures to carry his interest). They thought the story was wonderful. Personally, I wasn't sold.

Take a true story about a girl alone on an island for eighteen years. Bad things—horrible things—happen to her. What a wonderful opportunity for some character development; what better way to introduce young readers to the human psyche? But no, there is none of that here. Scott O'Dell spends the entire length of the novel creating a female Robinson Crusoe. Despite all that happens to this girl, she just goes on, hunting and gathering, being as ingenious as the Professor on Gilligan's Island. That's great and makes for a fine story, but where's the human being? Karana shows practically no emotion despite the fact she witnessed most of her people (including her father) killed, she returns to the island to be with her brother who is killed days later, she's alone for eighteen years and eventually learns that everyone she's ever known is dead. That seems like quite a bit for any person to take in, especially a girl who is only twelve at the novel's start. The only emotion we even get a glimpse of is anger and this is very short lived. Karana just moves on and makes pretty skirts.

As a tale of adventure Island of the Blue Dolphins has merit. It's also a wonderful place to learn about a different culture, time, and about a largely unknown figure from history. It would be a great read for anyone interested in true survival stories. But it lacks one key ingredient: a human being. After all, a story about a shipwreck without a human being becomes nothing more than a story about a broken vessel. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the novel itself was in the end.

The fact that this book was based on a true story - this girl was real, she really did live alone for years on an island - makes my mind reel. Almost made me cry. Loved loved loved.

I read this book with Max (age 6) and we both loved it.

Karana lives alone on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. The rest of her tribe escaped on a ship, but Karana had to stay behind to care for her little brother. This is short-lived, however; it is not long before the little brother wanders into trouble yet again and this time he is devoured by wild dogs.

Karana is now truly alone. Quite unexpectedly, she captures and befriends the leader of the wild dogs. The rest of the book tells the story of her struggles with dangers on the island, including the elements and the arrival of foreigners, and her struggles with loneliness during her many years on the island.

For me, it was the moment in the book where Karana befriends her brother's killer that makes the book leap into excellence, into becoming Newbery-worthy.