A review by graciegrace1178
The Black Pearl by Scott O'Dell

4.0

Holy smokes! This is not what I expected!! 4.33 stars. Possibly closer to 5, still debating!

PT: RAtW: La Paz (and surrounding areas)
WIL
1) SCOTT O'DELL? I don't know how it happened exactly, but somehow while I was reading this I totally forgot Scott O'Dell was the author. Was pleasantly surprised about halfway through when I checked the author's name again! SCOTT, YOU'RE AWESOME, MAN. He has the *range.*
description
Between [b:Island of the Blue Dolphins|41044096|Island of the Blue Dolphins|Scott O'Dell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1533405446l/41044096._SX50_.jpg|3215136] (1960) and this, O'Dell is quickly climbing the ranks to becoming one of my favorite authors again. He's got an almost Vernian style, but instead of sci-fi, his primary genre is like,, anthropological historical fiction. INCREDIBLE.

2) Historical fiction, meet fantasy. Or rather, folklore I suppose. STILL THOUGH. The intersection of historical fiction narrative with folklore that's been (re)vitalized into a human story? That's amazing. That's very DISNEY actually. O'Dell really gets genius loci and he weaves it into the text so SEAMLESSLY.

3) For students. The symbols + themes + characters here are not hard to grasp or relate to. Most of them are pretty surface level, with a few slightly subsurface themes. This, incidentally, makes this a particularly noteworthy/valuable read for teachers introducing students to literature structures. Which is SO COOL. It's an all-around fantastic school choice because 1) geography/reading around the world genius loci stuff, 2) intro to literature concepts 3) clear language with the occasional new vocab word 4) compelling narrative/chapter cliffhangers. This is a paragon of children's literature honestly.


WIDL
1) Over and done. I think this narrative will stick around with me for a while, but it doesn't resonate enough to earn it the five-star rating. I read it, and I'm glad to have done so, but it's not quite up there with the rest of the 5 stars.

NEUTRAL GROUND
1) O'Dell is amazing, wonderful, awesome. I think I've thoroughly established this now, but just in case you missed it? O'DELL IS AMAZING, WONDERFUL, AWESOME.

2) It's hardly fair of me to compare this to the obviously incomparable Island of the Blue Dolphins, but here I go anyway:
SIMILARITIES
a) writing style consistency. Granted, it's been a while since I've read IotBD, but from what I do remember, O'Dell's got a very distinct and characteristic writing style that continues through into this story as well (The Black Pearl publication date: 1967). That's just a delightful trait in children's stories that is sometimes less reliable in young adult/general content reads.
b) geographically based. heck yea!!! HECK YEA! Love that!!! Both TBP and IotBD are HEAVILY tethered to their respective geographic locations (in narrative, character culture, etc.), and that's EXACTLY what I look for in RAtW books! AWESOME! This has revived me for more Reading Around the World books.
DIFFERENCES
a) just,, TBP wasn't quite on the same level as IotBD for me. Blue Dolphins had so much heart, and TBP did have some heart, but just not nearly as much.