Sunday, March 20, 2022

Thoughts on Zia (Island of the Blue Dolphins #2) by Scott O'Dell

 


A young Indian girl, caught between the traditional world of her mother and the present world of the mission, is helped by her Aunt Karana, whose story was told in Island of the Blue Dolphins.


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**My thoughts**
Island of the Blue Dolphins was one of my favorite books when I was a child. I have reread it dozens of times. It wasn't until adulthood that I heard there was a sequel. I eventually grabbed a copy via my school's Scholastic Book Fair and kept putting off reading it. Until now.

Perhaps I should have left well enough alone, because I was really disappointed. 

I picked it up to read the same night I had just reread Island. Perhaps that was a mistake. It was jarring to suddenly have a lot of action and characters and conversation. I lost that sense of peace, calm, and connection.

And even though I know Island is a fictional account, it was hard for me to wrap my head around Karana having a niece and nephew so eager to find her. (So I figured this takes place within the year before they bring Karana back from the island.)

It's an interesting piece of historical fiction that shows some of the mistreatment of Indians by whites and the problems of these Missions that were popping up to convert them to Christianity. But I am not sure how historically accurate this story is.

I may have liked the story better if it was not trying to be connected to Island. I just didn't feel that at all. But it could have been an entertaining enough adventure on its own. And I probably would have enjoyed it more as a child than I did as an adult. I know I'll revisit Island, but I'm not likely to return to Zia.

I gave it 2.5 stars after going back and forth for a while.

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