Author: Scott O’ Dell
Page Numbers: 184 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Date: 22/03/’11
Good sentence(s): ‘….for animals and birds are like people, too, though they do not talk the same or do the same things. Without them, the earth would be an unhappy place.’
Overview: This captivating, touching and mesmerizing story accounts the story of an Indian girl named Karana, who was accidentally left behind on the island of the blue dolphins, where she lived, when white men from other countries came and sailed away with the other villagers to their country. She jumped out of the boat she was sailing on when she discovered that her little brother was left behind, and she accompanied her brother on the island. However, good times never last, one morning she woke up to discover her brother lay dead on the ground miles away from her house, attacked by wild dogs on the island. From there, the story begins the account of Karana’s determination of living on the island alone and her optimism and hopefulness of seeing the white ship sailing back to get her.
Comments: I was really touched by this remarkable masterpiece by Scott O’ Dell. The author does not only describe with great detail of the difficult and harsh life Karana had to put up with on the island and all the difficulties she faced living alone on the island, but also, he vividly described Karana’s determination and courage on fighting the wild dogs for revenge for her brother and her optimism and how she never gave herself up.
Near the ending part of the story, after having many pets and cared for them as her family, Karana finally understood that animals isn’t only for food and using their skins for making weapons, they could also be loved and cared for just like our family. I totally agree with the sentence the author wrote ‘….for animals and birds are like people, too, though they do not talk the same or do the same things. Without them, the earth would be an unhappy place.’ Although there are a lot of sad events in the story, such as the death of Karana’s brother and her dog, the ending was excellent.
I absolutely loved this intriguing and exciting story with a useful and excellent moral, Karana’s courage, determination and optimism is surely worthy of our admiration and praise.
