Zia

This book is almost like the sequel to Island of Blue Dolphins. I recommend that you read Island of Blue Dolphins first. This is a great book.

Sequel to O’Dell’s Newbery Award winner, Island of the Blue Dolphins. Zia lives at the Mission Santa Barbara with her younger brother, Mando. They traveled to the mission after their mother and father had died. Zia has long heard stories about her Aunt Zarana who was left behind on the Island

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of the Blue Dolphins, her tribe’s ancestral home. Now she hopes to sail to the island and bring her Aunt back to live with them at the Mission.

This was not so compelling a story as IotBD, but I still thought it was a good middle-grade book. Zia is a strong heroine – intelligent, resourceful, morally upright, true to herself, loyal and brave. I also liked the social history lesson O’Dell imparts, showing how the Spaniards, “gringos,” Mexicans and Catholic missionaries fought over control of the people and lands of California, without regard to the native population and their culture.

I do have to comment on the cover of the edition I read. The young woman depicted is hardly recognizable as a Native American. Yet one more thing "stolen" from the natives - their very likeness.

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Zia is a sequel to Island of the Blue Dolphins. In this adventurous and suspenseful story, Zia and her brother find a boat that they head out on to find their aunt. On this journey, they encounter many set backs to actually getting to their aunt. This 14 year old girl is courageous and experiences

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real life things that could happen in real life. That is what I like most about O'Dell's stories, because he depicts situations so clearly.

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This book is about a islander named Zia who is looking for her long lost aunt. She has a brother named Mando, who is always trying very hard to do everything to his best ability. Zia and her brother attempt to find their aunt and finds a boat also. They take the boat to try to find her and they get

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captured. Once captured they find a way to get free and still do not find her.

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Several years ago, I read, along with my young daughters, Island of the Blue Dolphins. I think it was one of the few Native American stories available about a woman. Karana was an excellent example of fortitude and bravery. Recently, while doing research I stumbled upon this sequel. It's important

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to understand that it is a completely different kind of book and if your looking for a continuation of Karana's world, you will be disappointed. Blue Dolphins was about a girl growing into a woman facing nature and finding her own way. Zia is about what happened to her people and how their way of life was obliterated.This story focuses on survival over the Southern California Missions and religious pressure imposed by the Spanish. Ultimately, Zia learns from her Aunt about true freedom, even when circumstances are out of your control. This was an excellent historical fiction and was very glad I found it.

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It was boring. The first book was definitely better than this one. It does not have the same anticipation and climax as the first book. There are also a lot of information left out. I would love to know more about Zia but the book was more centered on Karana and how Zia felt about her. The title

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should have been "Karana". Mando was not even present most of the time. I only got to see him in several chapters. I would love to see the dynamics between Zia and Mando more. The book is not what I have expected.

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I don't think this was nearly as good as Island of the Blue Dolphins.

Zia lives at the Mission, and wonders how her aunt is faring on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. It has been eighteen years since Karana was left behind, marooned on the island, and so Zia tries to find a way to visit her aunt on an island 60 miles away, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean.

While not as

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good as the original book, I did like Zia, and thought that the interactions amongst the priests, soldiers, and natives were handled well, not over-the-top, but not sugar-coated either. The author did convey how people treated each other almost 200 years ago. Worth reading.

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Fourteen-year-old Zia has known for years about her aunt Karana, who was once left behind and has been living alone out on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Zia is determined to go out and find her aunt and bring her back to live with other Indians in Zia by author Scott O'Dell.

Because I just

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revisited Island of the Blue Dolphins and only learned a few days ago of this novel following it, I was curious to find out what the story of Karana's niece is all about. However, I think it was only the glimpse into an unjust part of history that kept me interested in this second book: the depiction of people being forced to live and work at Christian missions as if for the sake of their souls.

I can appreciate an understated writing style, but I'm finding that a plot itself really has to engross me (like in Sing Down the Moon) in order for this particular author's style not to be dull to me. Some parts of this story that got my attention came to anticlimactic ends, and it often felt like the plot didn't really have anywhere it needed to go. Although the children's classic that precedes this book isn't a personal favorite of mine, I do have respect for the heroine Karana, and though her appearance in this book is relatively brief, I suspect that a lot of people who love her story in the earlier book will find her role in this one to be a regretful, unsatisfying, and likely unnecessary addendum.

I don't know if I'll try this author again in the future, but I'm not sorry I indulged my curiosity about this sequel.

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