Scott O'Dell was inspired by the real-life story of a twelve-year-old American Indian girl, Karana. The author based his book on the life of this remarkable young woman who, during the evacuation of Ghalas-at (an island off the coast of California), jumped ship to stay with her younger brother who had been abandoned on the island. He died shortly thereafter, and Karana is forced to fend for herself on the island. This is a gripping story of battling wild dogs and sea elephants, is a simply told, suspenseful tale of survival. The first nine chapters were quite good and then, unfortunately, the book takes a huge downfall and never lets up. The next ten chapters are pretty decent, but not so great and the last eight chapters are pretty mediocre. However, Island Of The Blue Dolphins will keep your interest since the final result ends up being an entertaining book, even though it's not so good. This would be something you would only read once. On a side note, there's a sequel to this book, which I'm not going to review, entitled Zia.
Scott O'Dell was inspired by the real-life story of a twelve-year-old American Indian girl, Karana. The author based his book on the life of this remarkable young woman who, during the evacuation of Ghalas-at (an island off the coast of California), jumped ship to stay with her younger brother who had been abandoned on the island. He died shortly thereafter, and Karana is forced to fend for herself on the island. This is a gripping story of battling wild dogs and sea elephants, is a simply told, suspenseful tale of survival. The first nine chapters were quite good and then, unfortunately, the book takes a huge downfall and never lets up. The next ten chapters are pretty decent, but not so great and the last eight chapters are pretty mediocre. However, Island Of The Blue Dolphins will keep your interest since the final result ends up being an entertaining book, even though it's not so good. This would be something you would only read once. On a side note, there's a sequel to this book, which I'm not going to review, entitled Zia.
