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A review by jessica42980
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
3.0
All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on June 9, 2021.
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While reading the Hatchet series by Gary Paulsen, I decided to listen to another book that I listened to in school: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. I remember enjoying it when I was younger and watching a long movie version at what seemed like 2am while my family was asleep. Other than an individual living by themselves and working to survive, these are very different books. Island of the Blue Dolphins is loosely based off of a true story, and our story is about Karana who is left to fend for herself on the island where her tribe lived. The rest of the tribe was taken away by boat, and Karana maintained hope that they would return for her someday. Over time she comes to terms of being alone and learning to fend for herself. Part of that is going against what she was taught: that women should not make weapons. Well if she didn’t, she wouldn’t have survived on her own! She makes friends with a dog that she names Rontu. (If I ever have another dog, I will be tempted to name him Rontu as I just loved that name! And it’s a literary name!)
Eventually Karana is rescued after many years and learns what happened to her tribe. For me, after the more intense young adult novels of the Hatchet series with Brian constantly struggling to survive, Island was less intense. Maybe down the road I will read it again. Maybe it was the narrator as I listened to the novel, or maybe I just lost something by listening versus actually reading it myself. It could also be that this is written for the middle grades age group and I am far from that group. I would definitely recommend it for younger girls so they can see that girls can do what they need to do to survive a challenging situation. It is a girl empowerment book in that way.
~~~~
This review will appear on my site on June 9, 2021.
~~~~
While reading the Hatchet series by Gary Paulsen, I decided to listen to another book that I listened to in school: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. I remember enjoying it when I was younger and watching a long movie version at what seemed like 2am while my family was asleep. Other than an individual living by themselves and working to survive, these are very different books. Island of the Blue Dolphins is loosely based off of a true story, and our story is about Karana who is left to fend for herself on the island where her tribe lived. The rest of the tribe was taken away by boat, and Karana maintained hope that they would return for her someday. Over time she comes to terms of being alone and learning to fend for herself. Part of that is going against what she was taught: that women should not make weapons. Well if she didn’t, she wouldn’t have survived on her own! She makes friends with a dog that she names Rontu. (If I ever have another dog, I will be tempted to name him Rontu as I just loved that name! And it’s a literary name!)
Eventually Karana is rescued after many years and learns what happened to her tribe. For me, after the more intense young adult novels of the Hatchet series with Brian constantly struggling to survive, Island was less intense. Maybe down the road I will read it again. Maybe it was the narrator as I listened to the novel, or maybe I just lost something by listening versus actually reading it myself. It could also be that this is written for the middle grades age group and I am far from that group. I would definitely recommend it for younger girls so they can see that girls can do what they need to do to survive a challenging situation. It is a girl empowerment book in that way.