Fire on Cave Island, by Christian

Fire on Cave Island

"I believe what I see and I don't believe what I don't see." Billie Wind said this because she doesn't believe in animal gods, the giant serpent and the little people who steal stuff and live underground. In the book, The Talking Earth, by Jean Craighead George, Billie Wind is a Seminole Indian girl who lives in the Everglades in a village called Panther Paw. She's the only one in the whole village who doesn't believe all of those things. She gets punished by the elders for not believing and they ask her what she thinks her punishment should be. She says, "'I think I should go into the Pa-hay-okee, the Everglades, where the spirit dwells, and stay until I hear the animals talk, see the serpent, and meet the little people who live underground.'" (page 3) A new door opens for Billie Wind when she begins her adventure.

Cave Island was one of the most important parts of the story, especially when it got burned. In the book, Billie Wind got stuck in a cave about one or two weeks. She was lucky that she was safe from the fire. Billie Wind learns a lot on that island, especially in the cave that was full of tools that she could use. She learned that her ancestors lived there and she discovered that they dug a hole in the cave to get fish. Billie Wind says, "'Petang, you have told me how the fish got into the pit. When the glades dry up, the fish are not dead, as we've always assumed; they are down in the underground pools and rivers waiting for the rains to return and fill the pa-hay-okee so they can come back to the saw grass.'" (page 47) She also discovered one of the medicine bundles and decided not to take it. A lot of medicine bundles were missing, there's only three of them left, and there's already one in her village. Billie Wind also learned that the fire was the great serpent that her village was talking about. It is also a important to her that she uses her patience until the fire is out.

I chose this part because it really was exciting. I also like that part because she met a new animal friend, it was a river otter who she called Petang. Petang is the same meaning as river otter, but it's just Seminole Indian language. I also chose it because Billie Wind thought that she would die on that island. It was getting sad, a little. I also chose that part because Billie Wind's adventure would have been shorter if she didn't get stuck on that island. It is also one of my favorite parts of the whole story.

I also remembered some connections in that part of the story. One is when the island got burned. It reminded me when I was in the Philippines. On the other side of the street from where I lived, a house got burned. It made me feel scared and unhappy because the power was out for almost a day. I think Billie Wind felt scared just like me. It also reminded me when I got stuck in a basement for around 45 minutes. I was playing pool and the door was locked. It was like when Billie Wind got stuck on that island. I felt angry and trapped just like Billie Wind.

I hope that we could continue on the story. I learned a lot of things so far. I hope I could learn more things in that story. It was one of the best animal and traveling books I ever read. I really hope you’ll like it.

Christian, grade 5
June 2008