★★★★★ An extraordinarily beautiful survival story

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Scott O'Dell

I was five years old in 1961, when Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins in 1961, it won the Newbery Medal. Thus, I didn't read it until many years later. I still remember the impression it left on me -- like a jewel, perfect in its simplicity.

The only thing I can compare it to is Gary Paulsen's Hatchet, another survival story that left me with much the same feeling.

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