Karana remembers that many years ago two whales had washed up on the shore and while most of the bones had been taken straight away to make ornaments, the ribs were still buried in the sand. She uses these bones to make a fence, facing the curve outward so they cannot be climbed. She weaves bull kelp between the bones, like a basket, to provide more protection. For a door she digs a hole under the fence and lines it with stones. She covers the hole on the inside with a woven mat to shed the rain and on the inside with a flat rock that she is strong enough to move but that is too heavy for an animal to move.
The house takes much longer for Karana to build because the wood.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 424 words. This
study guide contains 25,060 words (approx. 84 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our Island of the Blue Dolphins Access Pass.
