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empala88 's review for:
Island of the Blue Dolphins
by Scott O'Dell
First off I loved this book when I read it as a kid and I had a great time rereading it. I of course wish this classic came from the voice of an indigenous person but I really do enjoy the novel for what it is. Learning about the background of Juana Maria it makes sense why O'Dell had to take specific fictional liberties. Something I appreciated about the book when I was a kid and appreciate even more now is the idea of a completely self-reliant female protagonist. I loved that it wasn't like Pocahontas with a white savior complex. I love reading about the fictionalized possible ways of living on the island through her interaction with the animals and the way she creates shelter and weapons. I love when she saves Rontu and the otter and the way she used the different resources on the island. I think it's really funny to read other adults' reviews of this book because they seem to completely forget that this was written for children. I saw so many people say that Karana was depicted as dumb or infantilized, I'm sorry but do people expect kids to be reading at a Shakespeare level all of the sudden? I think that more books need to be introduced to school-aged children that center on POC characters and are written by POC authors, however, I think at least for me in elementary school it was really cool to read about a strong woman as well as not a deeply racist characature of a native person. Which is ultimately shocking coming from a man in the 1960s.