This book was probably a little young for you

By Mavis D.

Island Of The Blue Dolphins is about a girl named Karana. Her people lived in a village called Ghalas-at. One day, a ship of Aleuts led by a Russian named Captain Orlov arrive and persuade the natives to let them hunt sea otter in return for other goods. The Aleuts try to trick the tribe and leave without paying. A war breaks out people died on each side. Now there's only a few natives of the tribe left and the Aleuts leave the island. A lot of men including Karana's father die during the battle. The replacement Chief leaves the island to find new land on the east. After waiting, a boat finally comes back and picks up the rest of the tribe, but Karana's brother runs off the ship to go grab his spear. Karana tried to get the boat to wait for her brother, but they needed to leave before a storm approaches. She got off the boat to go get her brother and they ended up leaving without her. Her and her brother we're alone on the island, but her brother was eventually killed by a pack of wolves. Karana was left to do all the "man's" work and at the same time she tried to get revenge by killing off the pack of wolves. In that process she ended up being friends with one of them and training him to be her pet. She also trained birds, otters, and other animals to help her survive on the island. Later on a ship landed on the island looking for Natives. She hid in a cave from the people but eventually met one of them. She chose to stay on the island.

Her dog ended up dying and she later on found a young puppy that looked exactly like her old one. So she named it after him. As time passes another ship came to the land. They realized what she was wearing wasn't appropriate for the new land, but she realized that was going to be her new life. So she accepted the change and went on the ship with her new dog and left.

At first, when I read this story it didn't really interest me because I was young and loved reading "fun" books, but as I got older and read it again it was a really good story, also sad at the same time. She lost her family and ended up being alone on an island. It's a really good book and also focuses on independence and having to go out of your comfort zone to survive.