Have you ever imagined what it would be like to live all by yourself? No brothers to steal the book you’re trying to read and hide it. No sisters to tease you when you start talking like the characters in your book. No parents telling you to blow out the light and go to sleep.

I have. More than once.

I really do love my family, even when I’m angry or annoyed. If anything happened to them, I don’t know what I would do.

But that’s exactly what 12-year-old Karana had to decide the day she found herself all alone on the Island of the Blue Dolphins.

The story you’re about to read is made up, but the girl is real

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell is a work of fiction, but it reads as if it were a diary. Part of that is because there really is an island off the coast of modern-day California and there really was a girl who lived there—forgotten and on her own for 20 years—after the rest of her tribe abandoned their ancestral home. She is known as The Lost Woman of San Nicolas.

The fictional story of Karana begins the day the Aluet ship appears on the horizon. The visitors are hunters who promise treasure in exchange for the ability to hunt otters off of the island’s shores. But treachery and trickery results in a clash between her people and the strangers. This begins a chain of events that forces the Ghalas-at people to flee their island the following year.

Unfortunately, Karana wasn’t on the white man’s ship that came to her people’s aid when it left the island. Even though she’d been assured the ship would return, it never came.

And that’s just in the first 7 chapters. The next 22 chapters show us Karana’s early days on the island when as she watches the horizon for the promised ship and fights to survive on an island with few trees, two small, fresh water springs, harsh winds, and wild (dangerous) dogs. She has no house. No weapons. No tools. And little food.

As one year passes into another and another, the threat of the Aluets returning to the island continues to worry Karana. Over time, she teaches herself how to fashion tools and weapons, builds herself a home, braves constant danger, and comes to know the island and its animals in ways none of her people had before. All while hunting, gathering, and storing food and water during good weather to survive the cold, wet winters.

Looking for a book with a strong female protagonist? This is it.

Karana’s life on the Island of Blue Dolphins is hard, but her spirit is uncrushable. She’s smart. She’s resourceful. And she doesn’t leave her fate to chance. When I think of all the books I’ve read with strong girls in it, she is the strongest and bravest of them all.

If you haven’t read Island of the Blue Dolphins before, add it to your reading list now! It is a John Newbery Medal award winner and my friend Jen said she saw it listed as a suggestion for young readers in a recent Barnes & Noble newsletter.

Each chapter is short and the entire book is about 180 pages. Young readers around 9 or 10 shouldn’t have any trouble reading this one. 

This is the second time I’ve given a book 5 out of 5 dark chocolate eggs. It deserves every single one, plus another. I hope after you read it, you agree.

You can find Island of the Blue Dolphins on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBooks. But I’d suggest visiting your library first. I’ll be very surprised if they don’t have it!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go hug my family.

See you next time!

Note: No goods or services were exchanged for this review. The opinions belong solely to the reviewer.