About This Book
Reach for this book when your child is ready to explore themes of profound self-reliance, the quiet strength found in solitude, or the healing process of grief. This classic story follows Karana, a young Nicoleño girl who is left behind on her home island and must survive alone for eighteen years. It is a powerful meditation on the human spirit's ability to adapt and find beauty in the face of loss. While the survival elements are gripping, the heart of the story lies in Karana's changing relationship with the natural world and her movement from fear to peaceful coexistence. It is best suited for readers aged 10 and up due to its heavy themes of isolation and the factual, sometimes stark depiction of the circle of life and death in nature.
What Parents Should Know
Discussion Prompts
1
Karana breaks her tribe's law that women must not make weapons. Do you think she made the right choice? Why did the law exist in the first place?
2
Why does Karana eventually decide to tame Rontu, the leader of the dogs that killed her brother, instead of killing him?
3
Karana's feelings about hunting animals change over time. How does her relationship with the island's creatures evolve throughout her eighteen years?
4
What does Karana do to keep her hope and her memories alive when there is no one else to talk to?
5
In the end, Karana chooses to leave the island. If you were her, would you have stayed in the home you built or left for a world you no longer knew?
