Island of the Blue Dolphins

The island in the Pacific looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Blue dolphins swim around it, sea elephants and sea birds abound, and otters play. Once, Indians lived on the island. When they left, one young girl was left behind. This is the story of Karana. For years she waited for a ship to take her back east to her people. But while she waited, she kept herself alive by building shelter, making weapons, finding food and fighting enemies who were dogs. Although most of the novel takes place before Native Americans were widely exposed to Western culture, not all of the conflict is between them and animals of the wild. The novel describes other cultural conflicts on her island as well as those within her own mind.