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Island of the Blue Dolphins (平装)
by Scott O'Dell
| Category:
Self-help, Story, Award-winning books, Ages 9-12, Children's book |
| Market price: ¥ 88.00
MSL price:
¥ 78.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A gripping story of battling wild dogs and sea elephants, and also an uplifting adventure of the spirit. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 5 items |
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Brandon Valsonis (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
As a college student and a budding teacher I find this book excellent for the use of students in exploring both independence and the Chumash culture. The book has been highly acclaimed for many reasons. I myself read this book when I was in elementary school and remember relating to Karana'a need to be independent. Reading about how a young girl became self sufficient by figuring out her environment intrigued me. Students like myself also get introduced to the idea of seeing the life of animals as beautiful and full of worth. As Karana identifies with the struggles of the animals on the island, the animals become highly relatable to her. The animals are shown to have lives and identities of their own that give children a look at how animals are affected by humans and the environment like us. |
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Aron Parker (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
I've found that Newberys (the kind with one r-not two) often have a bittersweet flavor to them, and "Island of the Blue Dolphins" is no different. It's the kind of story that deliciously melts into the recesses of your imagination, but at the same time makes you squint your eyes to hold back the tears.
As I'm sure most people reading this review already know, the book, loosely based on true events, is about Won-a-pa-lei, a native girl who gets left alone on an island off of the California Coast for nearly two decades in the 1800s. Actually the young woman's name is Karana. But that's her "secret name," and it would be impolite of me to wear it out.
One might imagine that an entire book about a girl living by herself on an island would be a bit boring. However, I lied above when I said she's alone. In actuality, Kara . . . uh, I mean Won-a-pa-lei, is not alone. When deprived of human contact, she turns to the creatures of the island for companionship. Dogs, birds, sea otters, and, yes, even a few dolphins, all help Won-a-pa-lei to feel like part of a community in a world without people.
Although the story is written in a first-person perspective, our narrator rarely gets lost in her emotions. Instead, readers are left to discover the emotions for themselves as Won-a-pa-lei faces the joys and sorrows of existence. The passage of time is also artfully fluctuated, slowing down to show the perils of daily life, and then speeding up to show seasonal weather patterns, animal life cycles, and the never-ending tick-tocking of mother nature's clock.
In a fast-paced society where every man, woman, child, and newborn seems to have a cell phone, Island of the Blue Dolphins gives us a brief glimpse into life at its most elemental level-a human being living as one with her natural environment, and surviving not only physically in the face of adversity, but mentally as well. This story is mandatory reading for anyone planning to get stranded on a deserted island. And it's not too bad for the rest of us either.
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A Kid (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
Karana jumped off of a boat to save her brother, and then spent eighteen years alone on an island in the Pacific. Karana and her younger brother Ramo, were son and daughter for the Chief of Ghalas-at, on the Island of the Blue Dolphins in the Pacific. When the Aleuts, Russians who come to their island every spring to hunt otter, refuse to pay their share of otter pelts, a war breaks out between them. Being no match to the Aleuts' guns and knives, all of the warriors and the chief are killed in the battle. The people of Ghalas-at then appoint a new chief, an elderly man by the name of Kimki, who decides to go to an island in the East in search of land to move their tribe to. Kimki did not return for many seasons, and everyone assumed him dead. When spring arrived again, plans were made between the people to flee on canoes they had hidden in a cave as soon as Aleut ships were spotted. When a ship finally arrives, everyone gets prepared to flee in the prepared canoes, until they realize that unlike the Aleut ship, this ship has white sails and is relatively smaller. The people were on the ship to take them away from that island. Everyone boarded on the ship, including Karana and her older sister Ulape, with their most prized possessions. Just as their ship leaves the cove and a storm is coming, Karana sees Ramo on the beach waving frantically and tells the captain to go back and get them. The captain tells her that he can't, so she jumps off of the boat to save him, destroying her best skirt that she was wearing. Ramo, proclaiming himself chief, goes to spear some fish for their dinner and never came back. Later Karana found him lying dead about a league from the beach, half eaten by a pack of wild dogs that Karana promises to avenge. Karana moves to the other end of the island to keep away from the memories of her friends and builds herself a crude hut out of wood, using a rock as two walls of her house. Karana built a fence out of whale ribs and bull kelp, with the ribs curved outward so that they were impossible to climb. Karana found many pets on the island, including four cormorant birds and two wild dogs. While she was on the island, Karana survived through many storms and even a tsunami and earthquake. Whenever the Aleuts came, Karana would hide in one of the multiple caves that were used by her past ancestors, and no one found her except for an Aleut girl named Tutok. They became friends and taught each other things in their own language until Tutok left. After eighteen years had passed, a ship that was not Aleut came and brought Karana to a missionary in California, where she learned that the ship that her people had sunk, along with her language and traditions, and never reached to the harbor. This is a very good book that tells the story of a young woman who persevered enough to survive by herself for eighteen years on an island.
Karana was willing to do whatever she needed to survive. Karana was told that if a woman made weapons, the world would open up and "swallow" her. or the sky would strike her with lightning. She made weapons anyway, but nothing happened to her. Karana had multiple homes on the island so that if someone found her mainland home they would not find her. She also found multiple springs and different paths to each spring so she would not wear a path to her house.
Karana had a lot of perseverance. She failed multiple times when she was trying to make a spear and a bow and arrow, and it took many ties to make one that would fly straight. When Karana found a giant devilfish in the water, she made a weapon that the men in her tribe would use to spear them, and kept holding on to the string that the spear was connected to so that she could drag to shore. When she finally reached the shore, her dog had gotten caught in it's tentacles and she was bruised from all of the suction cups on it's arms.
Wherever Karana was on the island, she always found something to do. When she was on the beach, Karana would play with Rontu, her wild dog pet, or hunt for fish and play with the otters. In the caves, Karana would look and explore the inner chambers that her ancestors used. One time she found a chamber that had the skeletons of three of her ancestors in it! Sometimes Karana would go to the rocks on the edge of the island and watch the walruses fight.
This book is extremely good. It can be emotional and adventurous at the same time, and is a great survival story. I would recommend it to people of all age groups.
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A kid (MSL quote), IL USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
As a child, my grade school librarian wore out from me asking to borrow so often. Later, as a private tutor, my students chose this again and again. "Island of the Blue Dolphins" lives up to its reputation as one of the greatest children's book ever.
Libraries are good for borrowing books, but some books should be on the shelf of any young reader. Scott O'Dell's magnificent "Island of the Blue Dolphins" is just that. Save your librarian some grief and buy a copy.
"The Island of the Blue Dolphins" is not the story of a foolish young girl who missed the boat when the island was being evacuated. Far from it. Karana was on the boat. Her playful little brother, Ramo, wasn't. He was only 6 years old and could never survive alone. She jumped off and headed to shore to save him. The boat left.
Every little girl or boy has been alone, frightened without a clear way of finding his or her way home. Often, the problem is fixed by turning the next corner, finding out it is the same neighborhood it has always been. In the case of "The Island of the Blue Dolphins," Karana's home never changes. Everyone she knows and loves, however, leaves.
For 18 years Karana took care of herself, and she grows from a preteen child into a woman just entering her 30s. This is that story, filled with adventures similar to "Robinson Crusoe," another true story set to fiction. Fans of "Swiss Family Robinson," will likewise enjoy this.
Karana's ingenuity to survive is surpassed by her tenacity and hope. Weathering hard circumstances, such wild dogs, storms and the constant need to find fresh food and good water. She uses what she learned from her parents and other villagers before the left, and what she learns by trial an error.
As exciting as "Treasure Island," only with a female protagonist, the book is more than a tale of heroics. Scott O'Dell's keen sense of description separates this from the rest of the bookshelf. Although sensitive that his reader is younger, he still manages to place to reader in the story, imagining the smell of sea or hearing the not-so-far off bark of wild dogs.
Like other classics as "Old Yeller" and "My Brother Sam Is Dead," not everything comes easily to Karana. There are somber times when people leave, when her brother dies, or when things look bleak. O'Dell tells the story as realistically as he can, which makes the happy times happier.
I fully recommend "Island of the Blue Dolphins," by Scott O'Dell. It won "The Newberry Medal for Best Children's Book" for good reason.
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Ryan (MSL quote), California
<2006-12-25 00:00>
This book provides rich detail about the life and experiences of a Native American girl named Karana. The reader is provided with a vivid picture of her everyday life, culture, and adaptations she made to meet the challenges she encountered.
Educators can use this book to create a wide variety of activities. There are several interactive online resources available to help teachers enhance their lessons.
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1 Total 1 pages 5 items |
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