The Black Pearl

The Black Pearl	Houghton Milton
Written by Scott O’Dell	1967
Modern Fantasy	140 pages
Reading Level age 12-14	Newberry Award

Summary

Ramon is the son of a pearl merchant. He works in the office weighing the pearls the divers bring in at the end of each day. All he wants is to go dive for pearls. Ramon convinces an old diver who lives on a near island, who trades pearls with his father, to teach him how to dive for deep pearls. The old man agrees, and when Ramon’s father leaves for the day, the two set off for the old man’s lagoon. The old man tells him of the Manta Diablo, the giant manta that lives in the cave at the mouth of the lagoon. The old man teaches Ramon how to hold his breath and use a rock as an anchor and to tie his pried off catch then haul it into the boat. One day when the old man isn’t with Ramon, he goes to the cave where the Manta Diablo lives. He finds the largest pearl he has ever seen. He can’t believe he has actually found one this big. He shows the old man but the old man tells him to return home immediately and warns Ramon that the Manta Diablo would come back and want the pearl back. Ramon showed his father and they set off to sell it at a high price. They can’t sell it, so Ramon gives it to the Virgin Madonna. His father sails with his boats to find more big pearls. All the boats perish in a storm, all men die except one. The man, who survived, Sevillano, says that it was Ramon’s fault since he found the pearl. Sevillano takes the pearl and makes Ramon return to the lagoon to find another large pearl. The Manta Diablo attacks their ship and Sevillano is set on hunting the manta ray down. He succeeds in harpooning the giant, but in the process is tangled in the rope and is dragged down as the manta dives. Ramon returns to the shore and gives the pearl back to the church.

Response

I liked the story line but felt that there weren’t enough details to understand parts of the background of the story. There were pictures drawn in scribble depictions that were hard to decipher and make sense of it.

Potential Problems

Sevillano is killed in the end and bullies Ramon throughout the book.

Recommendations

I would recommend this book to students who want to learn more about pearl diving and legends passed down through the generations.