Zia

Scott O'Dell

Jan 2011 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

In this sequel to the beloved Newbery Medal-winning classic Island of the Blue Dolphins, readers can learn what happened to Karana after she left the island.

For years, Zia has dreamt of going to the Island of the Blue Dolphins to find her aunt Karana, her dead mother’s sister who was left alone on the island nearly twenty years earlier. It’s the reason Zia came to the Santa Barbara Mission in the first place. The reason she braves the treacherous ocean waters again and again to rescue Karana. But every time she tries, she fails.

Finally, Zia’s aunt is brought to her. Finally, her greatest dream has come true. But sometimes the reality is not nearly as sweet as the dream.

Zia tells those facts so far as they are known from the point of view of a girl who has her own story to tell.

Like Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell's Zia is a gripping tale of survival, strength, and courage.

Ratings and reviews

I felt compelled to read ZIA, after loving its better-known prequel, ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS. (Both read for the first time as an adult.) Unfortunately, like many sequels, I didn’t find Scott O’Dell’s sequel quite as exceptional as the original, though still worthwhile. Whereas ISLAND tells the story of how the young woman Karana wound up living alone on an island off the coast of California in the 1800s, ZIA comes at the same story from a different direction. Zia is Karana’s niece who lives at a Christian mission in California. Zia wants to locate her missing aunt, the only family she has left except for a younger brother, and she works to make a rescue happen. But most of the book is really Zia’s coming-of-age story. Her life at the mission and her adventures with her brother as she tries to get to Karana. As always when I read historical fiction, there’s a lot I learned — especially about the complex relationships among indigenous people, Spanish occupiers, and Christian missionaries — a piece of U.S. history I knew little about. Another NOT very flattering episode in our history. ZIA is a quick read. And likely one of the few books around that portray a young indigenous woman as determined, capable, and smart. And I’d recommend it for those who loved ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS.

This is one of my all time favorite books since I was a little girl. Zia, the sequal to Island of the Blue Dolphins is an excellent book full of adventure. I would reccommend this book to for any age :-)

Really good

About the author

Scott O’Dell (1898–1989), one of the most respected authors of historical fiction, received the Newbery Medal, three Newbery Honor Medals, and the Hans Christian Andersen Author Medal, the highest international recognition for a body of work by an author of books for young readers. Some of his many books include The Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Road to Damietta, Sing Down the Moon, and The Black Pearl.