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Dec 16, 2009

karen rated it:

this may be the best book for kids ever written. it teaches young girls everything they will ever need to know in their resourceful lives: how to build a fence out of whale bones, how to kill giant squids, how to alternately befriend and defend against scary wild dogs, and how to make skirts from cormorant feathers. since i got kicked out of brownies and never got to learn All The Things That Girl Scouts Learn, this book taught me how to wilderness-survive. and now i live in queens. so - not muc More...

57 comments like (50 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

stephanie rated it:

man, fourth grade was a good year for reading! this is another one, and fed my urge to be able to survive on my own even further. this is beautiful because it's based on a true story (she leaves the island with her skirt of cormorant feathers, which is on display at mission santa barbara) and because she was alone for eighteen years, and hid from russians, and dealt with wild dogs, and the loss of her brother.

it is beautiful, haunting, and a story of survival. it's also very much a More...

4 comments like (11 people liked it)

Oct 13, 2007

Hellokitty rated it:

The book that I read was," Island Of The Blue Dolphins" this book was great! It is about a girl named Karana, and she is from an indian tribe, she lives on an island called," The Island Of The Blue Dolphins". Her father is the chief of the tribe, she has an older sister and younger brother. One day some people came and battled them, and her father dies. After this some more people come to their island, and try to help them, so the people gather some belongings and ge More...

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Kathryn rated it:

This was the best book in my early elementary years. I remember my first grade teacher, Mrs. Hendrickson, reading it to us over the course of a few weeks in serial form. I read it myself in third grade. And now, out of nostalgia (can you be nostaligic for your 8-10 year-old self?), I'm re-reading it. I remembered it as the adventurous, though sad, life of a young girl. Now it seems less about adventure and much more about the heart-breaking trials of a lonely girl, left alone and for dead.
More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2009

Christina rated it:

I never read Island of the Blue Dolphins as a child, although I’m positive I wouldn’t have liked it then either. As everyone in Karana’s tribe is evacuating the island, she looks back and realizes her little brother has been left behind. She jumps out of the boat and swims back to the island, where they live there alone until her brother is killed. After his death, she makes friends with an otter and one of the wild dogs that may or may not have killed her brother. Of course, as the days turn in More...

6 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 20, 2008

Abby rated it:

This book was freaking awesome. I loved it when I was a kid. All of the people on an island are leaving together one day, on a boat. I don't remember why. Anyhow, the main character's little brother got left behind on the shore. (What, they didn't think to do a head count before launching the boat?) She jumps off and swims back to be with him. The boat apparently drives only forward, and not in reverse, or they are in a really big hurry. I know this because they don't come back and get her or he More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2008

Anthony rated it:

In the novel "Island of the Blue Dolphins", the main character is Karana. She is the daughter of the chief of the tribe that lives on the island, "Island of the Blue Dolphins". She also has an older sister, a mom, and a little brother. Her and the others from the tribe hunt and gather their own food, make their clothing, and build their shelter. They are very independent and are the only people who inhabit the island.
During this novel, the tribe is visited by fore More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Dec 14, 2009

Jean rated it:

a children's book, this is my all time favorite. based on the true story of a young woman who had to survive alone on an island for more than 20 years. typical me...i love stories about strong women. i promised myself that when i "grew up," i would visit the grave-site of the woman who inspired the book. when i lived in california, i finally made my way to the mission in santa barbara where she was buried. for a moment i was able to flash back to my childhood self looking into the More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Patricia rated it:

Might I be bored, annoyed, or disgusted with Scott O'Dell's many works from the viewpoints of young women? If I read them now, sure, I might be.

But I SWORE BY Scott O'Dell when I was 10-12 years old, and I think that's what mattered. The girls in the books spoke to me, and they were written for me then, not for the me that is now.

I will buy his books for my younger cousins, and hope they get the sense of self and adventure that these short novels offer.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 21, 2011

Quiana rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 13, 2008

Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* rated it:

I think this book is amazing. I read it five years ago, but I still remember it so vividly. The story seemed so real. It's exciting, inspiring, and heartbreaking all at the same time. Everyone should read this!

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2012

Loren *Lolo* rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 05, 2007

Nicole Marie rated it:

Island of the Blue Dolphins is one of my favorites. I first read it all the way back in fourth grade. Back then, I never really read these types of books but as soon as we read it in class, I couldn't stop. After we finished our unit on the book, I had to read the sequel, Zia.

This story teaches us about living it up smart on our own and to make the best of bad moments. The Island of the Blue Dolphins is about a girl named Karana, who is left behind by her tribe on an island because More...

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Nov 14, 2008

Linda rated it:

My fourth grade daughter insisted I read this because she enjoyed it so much, and I can see why. It was a fast read, but the story was engaging. It's based on a true story, and I was inspired by Karana and her resourcefulness. Descriptions of the island and the animals were vivid. Her relationship with the animals - as it evolved - was beautiful. We plan to visit the Southwest Museum in Pasadena to see the real artifacts from the Indian people who did inhabit this island . . .

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 30, 2009

Amanda rated it:

This book really disturbed me. I read it when I was a young teenager and the idea of being stranded on an inhospitable island for a year by myself was, well, disturbing. And I never fully understood the relationship between the girl and the wolf. Perhaps I'll read it again now that I'm a self-sufficient adult who wouldn't mind a little peace and quiet for a little while...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 20, 2007

Laura rated it:

I remember loving this book as a child but could remember very little about the plot except that it involved a girl on an island. Rereading this kids' classic, I was surprised to learn that the story was based on a real-life girl who lived alone on an island for 18 years. Goodness!
While the story is good, it didn't resonate with me as much as it did when I was in elementary school. At that time, the idea of a female child being self-sufficient on an island was very appealing and excitin More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

A rated it:

read this for the first time before fifth grade.
this book was like all my daydreams. she was strong...she lived on her own, faught against dogs and survived. even though it's probably not meant to be, i consider this book to being my first women's empowerment book. :) it definitely taught me the strength of the female body. an amazing story that i didn't want to end. by the end of the book i was certain that if i ever got stranded on an island, i'd survive. ((probably not, but hey, optimis More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Amy rated it:

When I visit my parents, I like to hang out with the bookshelves that hold all the books my sisters and I read when we were young. Somehow I missed this book the first time around. I've been reading it at night this week before I go to sleep, giving myself gifts to dream about: so many unbelievably great details--how otters play, how to make a skirt out of cormorant feathers, how to make friends with the wild dogs who killed your baby brother... It's charming and unsentimental and the prose i More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Monica rated it:

The Concept: The author based his book on true story of a remarkable young woman named Karana who, during the evacuation of Ghalas-at (an island off the coast of California), jumped ship to stay with her young brother who had been abandoned on the island. He died shortly thereafter, and Karana fended for herself on the island for 18 years.

This was my favorite book when I was a kid, and I still LOVE it. I really love tales of human survival, and I highly recommend this book to youn More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 20, 2009

Laura rated it:

Here is a story that actually has nothing to do with the book. In the tiny mountain town of Julian, CA, where I went to summer camp as a kid (and worked at summer camp as an adult), and where my parents currently live, is a house. It is my favorite house ever. It's a little gabled stone cottage that looks like it belongs in a Beatrix Potter story. It's shaded and surrounded by apple trees -- most of which burned down during the most recent fires, which is unfortunate but makes the house easi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 09, 2009

Corinne rated it:

This is a book that I read outloud to my two older children, ages 8 and 6. We LOVED IT. Here's my 8 year old daughter's thoughts:

It's about a girl a girl who is left on an island and she has to survive by herself. She makes her own weapons and she makes her own house that she makes with whale ribs for a fence. They used seaweed to tie the whale ribs together. That was my favorite part. I liked the ending, even though there were sad parts.

From my 6 year old:
I liked a More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2012

Erin added it

Karana's tribe number more than forty when this story begins, and they live quite comfortably on a small island. They forage for their food, mainly from the sea, but also roots and seeds from the land. Occasionally they are visited by hunters from the far north, (the Aleutian Islands of Alaska), who come to camp on their island for a few weeks and hunt the sea otter for their pelts. This is where the disaster begins, for the hunters deal unfairly with the islanders and in the ensuing battle most More...

0 comments like

Jan 10, 2012

Holly rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Dec 31, 2011

Lauren rated it:

Could you imagine being stranded on a desolate island all alone? The story "Island of the Blue Dolphins," taking place in the past, is a fantastic novel of a young indian girl and protagonist, Karana, who at first is happy among the many other indian people but are soon forced to flee to a new land with white men. Only one simple mistake led to both Karana and her brother Ramo being stranded on the island. Throughout the book Karana faces the challenge of going through many obs More...

0 comments like

Dec 28, 2011

Sam-Bones rated it:

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0 comments like

Dec 10, 2011

Angela added it

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O' Dell is about a young girl name Karana, an Indian girl who lives with her tribe on a small island off of the coast of California. When Aleutian sea hunters come to the island and kill almost all of her tribe including her father who is the chief, the rest of the tribe decides to move to the mainland. As they gather their belongings and sail away Karana sees that her brother has been left behind on the island, and jumps off the ship to be with him. From the More...

0 comments like

Dec 04, 2011

Strawberry bear *Sabrina* rated it:

I thought the Island Of The Blue Dolphins was a good book. It wasen't the best book i read but it was a good book. I think the genre of this book is action because alot of unexpected things happen. Like the war with the Aleuts, the death of her father brother and tribe, and when the Aleuts come back to the island. There was also alot of detail when these events happen in the story.Something i liked about this book was the setting. I liked the setting because she explains her houses,coral cove, a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 04, 2011

Queen of Bogus rated it:

I think the genre of this book is adventure and survival because she has to survive on the island without her tribe and she has to figure out how to do that.This book is about a girl named Karana her tribe leaves her and she needs to figure out how to survive without her tribe. I think the compering literary of this book is the character, this is because she meets a new animal or person every three chapters.
Parts That I found most interesting. ( did not have the book to put the page num More...

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Dec 03, 2011

Josephine rated it:

Island of the Blue Dolphins is another one of those books that, despite being decades old, I think still needs to be read. It's still worth reading on its own merits, but, like Julie of the Wolves<sup>1</sup>, has another point of interest: it describes a way of life that's long disappeared as the people who lived thus are themselves vanished.

for those who've not read it: Island of the Blue Dolphins is about an Indian girl who lived alone on an island for many years after h More...

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Dec 01, 2011

snarl rated it:

My Book Review Julianna Kuzniar
Genre:The genre of this book is probably adventure because she finds many animals.
Summary:Karana lives on a small island when white men come to take her tribe to a new island. Her brother is left behind and she goes back to the island for him. After her brother dies she has to survive on her own by making shelter and weapons and killing and gathering food.
Compelling Literary Element:The plot was the best. It w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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