Not terrible, but not Island of the Blue Dolphins

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	• Zia Scott O'Dell Laurel Leaf, 1995 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 33 reviews view larger image
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A Meaningfull Read

Zia is a great book to read. I haven't read Island of the Dolphins, but Scott O' Dell made it possible to still understand the plot of the previous story. The story moved a bit fast for me though, sometimes I got lost, and I was like, "Wow. Zia's already here? What happened to...?" But overall, the story had a very interesting plot. I found it sad that Karana dies just a while after she gets saved from the island. But I realize the Karana dying is very important since it makes Zia realize that Karana died for something. For her beliefs. And this causes Zia to look for what she believes in, where she belongs, what her identity is. I think Scott O' Dell did a good job at making a unique plot with a message that gets the reader to think.

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Very deep and moving

I love this book, and I love Zia, but it is very sad. Zia is very strong and determined, but she doesn't care for anything but Karana. She closes her heart to everyone but Karana - even before she actually meets her, she only thinks of her and only wants her. And then... she finds herself all alone. Even her younger brother, who loves her so much, leaves her, because seeing that there is no place for him in Zia's heart, he gives his heart to the sea. It's also sad that Father Vicente's good intentions don't work out because they are not practical, and that means there is no way at all for the Indians. They can never become what the Europeans want them to be - and in the way they are there is just no place for them in the new world the Europeans have created.

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Not terrible, but not Island of the Blue Dolphins

Sequels are almost always a let-down. I loved IotBD in grade school, and was thrilled to discover the sequel -- twenty-five years later, while in the library with kids of my own. I took it home and devoured it, but was left dissatisfied.

Not only does Zia's story pale in comparison to Karana's heroic survival, but several moments left me frowning with annoyance.

First of all, the plot inconsistencies drove me mad. Midway through the book, we are given to believe that all the young people at the mission have run away, leaving only Karana and some old Indians behind. (This is crucial to the plot, as she alone is blamed by the cruel captain as a suspected accomplice of the runaways.) But then we learn, out of the blue, that her brother has also remained behind -- but we're never told why. Later, when Karana comes to the mission and is given a bed in the girls' sleeping quarters, I thought this room would now be desolate -- but O'Dell tells us it's still crowded. With whom?

Sadly too, the character of Karana takes a beating in this book. In IotBD, she was a hero, larger than life. But seen through Zia's eyes, she is a mute and pitiable recluse lost in a foreign world, who takes childish delight in melons. This might be realistic, but it's a pathetic turn of events that I would rather not have read.

There is also a tragic irony that runs through the plot, to wit: Karana left her island to seek companionship at long last. But in the sequel, we learn that she ends up withdrawing to an isolated cave where she recreates a tinier, sadder version of her free life on the island, before finally dying of a broken heart. Zia, meanwhile, originally left her home village for the regimented life of the Mission solely in the hope of finding Karana -- but in the end, what she learns from Karana is that she'd be better off back home.

In other words, both characters would have been better off if Zia had never heard of Karana and Karana had died on her island. And I think I would have been better off had I not stumbled across this book.

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Dolphin 2

I was surprise to find this book to be Island of the Blue Dolphin 2. I learn more about the past of her. This book is very interesting.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

An ALA Notable Children's Book.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

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