Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

Reviewed by Danielle D.
Grade 5

Have you ever wondered if you could make your on clothes, hunt, and fend for yourself on a deserted island when you're not even a teenager? In Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell, 12-year-old Karana finds herself doing just that.

One spring day, Karana is picking roots, and looks out to see that a red ship is sailing toward her island. Her six-year-old brother Ramo is also looking out to sea and sees the ship too. "It's a canoe! A big canoe!" he cried, and with that he ran off. Once she had finished picking roots, she went to spy on them. The chief of the village, her dad, lets the strangers stay there because they want to kill the otters for the fur. A few months later the strangers start to leave, but they haven't given Karana's people the goods yet. When they refuse to give the rest of the goods, the chief puts his foot down, but the white men kill him. The white men finally go and the tribe elects a new chief who says he remembers an island the strangers will not know. He says he must go alone, but later sends them a ship to take them to the island. The captain tells them that they should get packed. Karana is walking to the ship with Ramo, and he remembers that he forgot his spear. He runs back to get it, but Karana doesn't know that. She thinks he's on the ship. They start to sail away, and running up the path is Ramo. She begs the captain to turn the boat around, but he won't, so she dives into the water. She swims to Ramo and hugs him and he asks, "Will it come back?" I don't know.

I really liked Karana because shes smart and caring. And I think she's caring because when an otter was injured she helped it back to health. And I think she's smart because she built a house and made a whale-bone fence that only humans could get through. That came in handy when the wild dogs came.


I would recommend this book to my friends because I like the lesson it gives you: have faith, have hope, never give up even when it looks impossible don't ever ever give up.