Arcadia Public Library

A young Indian girl, Zia, 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 "The Island of the Blue Dolphins."

Deeply attached to the charming and carefree Francis Bernardone, Cecilia, a young noblewoman of Assisi, watches as he turns from his life of wealth and privilege, takes vows of poverty, and devotes himself to serving God by helping all those around him.

In the Pacific there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it, blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea elephants and sea birds abound. Once, Indians also lived on the island. And when they left and sailed to the east, one young girl was left behind. This is the story of Karana, the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Year after year, she watched one season pass into another...

In this deeply effecting novel Scott O'Dell envelops the reader in the heroic world of the conquistadors, a world that is at once somber and many-colored. Though they may have been ruthless, these steel-helmeted young men of Spain lived their lives on the very edge of eternity with style and uncommon courage.

Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends eighteen years, not only surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life.