The Pearl
By: Jensen Koga
This book is about a family living in a town called La Paz. Kino a pear diver is the father, Juana is

the wife and their baby son Coyotito. This family is very poor. They live in a grass hut with a dirt

floor. The only relatives they have are Juan Tomas, Kino’s older brother and Apolonia is his wife.

One morning, Coyotito was in his box and a scorpion stung his shoulder. Kino grabbed the

scorpion killed it. Juana grabbed Coyotito and sucked out the venom. They took Coyotito to the

Doctor in town but the doctor did not want to treat the baby because they could not pay him and

so they went home. Kino, Juana and Coyotito went on the boat to hunt for pearl. Kino looked for

pearls while Juana stayed on the boat. Juana got some brown seaweed and put in on Coyotito’s

sting and it started to get better. Kino found a big oyster and brought it back to the boat to show

Juana. When he opened the shell it was the most biggest and nicest pear they ever saw.



They got back to shore and everyone already new that Kino found the Pearl of the World. Kino

started to think of all the things he wanted for him and his family. Kino always wanted a riffle, to

send Coyotito to school and to get married to Juana in a church and by selling the pearl he could

have all of this. The doctor heard that Kino found the Pearl of the World and went to Kino’s

house to treat Coyotito. That night, it was pitched darkness and while they were in bed someone

tried to steal the pearl. Kino chased him away with his knife. The next morning Kino went to

town to sell the pearl. The pearl buyer offered him thousand pesos and said the pearl was too

big. Kino got mad and said he would bring the pearl to the capitol and sell it. The pearl buyer

offered 1500 pesos but Kino walked out. Juana told Kino that this pearl was bringing bad luck to

the family and that they should throw it back in the ocean but Kino said no.



Kino went to his boat and there was a big hole in the bottom and on his way back home some one

attacked him and Kino killed him. When he went home his house was on fire and so he and his

family went to his brother’s house. At dawn, Kino and his family left and they started their

journey. They went up into the mountains and the trackers followed. Kino brought Juana and

Coyotito to a cave in the mountain and he went back down to ambush the trackers. One of the

trackers shot at the mountain because he thought he heard a coyote. Kino killed all three

trackers and then he heard a cry, it was Juana the shot from the tracker hit and killed Coyotito.

Kino and Juana went back to shore in La Paz and threw the pearl back into the ocean.



My Reaction


This book was very interesting because there was all kinds of parts like happy when they found

the pearl, mad when the pearl buyers offered him 1000 pesos and sad when Coyotito died. My

favorite part in the book is when Kino ambushed the three guys.


I learned that money makes people greedy and it can hurt your rather than help you.


Before Kino found the pearl his life was normal and now that he found the pearl things changed. I

am going to write about greed as a destructive force. When Kino found the pearl everyone

thought that he would be rich and everyone he knew came to his house.




When Kino first found the pearl and went home the priest came to his house. The priest said "It

has come to me that thou hast found a great fortune, a great pearl." Then he went on to say , "I

hope thou wilt remember to give thanks, my son , to Him who has given thee this treasure and

to pray for guidance in the future." To remember the church is to donate some money to the

church. The priest asked him because he got the pearl and that he would become richer now

compared to before.




The same day at about evening time the doctor came to treat Coyotito. But before the doctor

didn’t want to treat Coyotito because they could not pay him and now that they had the pearl

the doctor knew Kino could pay and so he came.


Kino went to the pearl buyers the next day and he was thinking of all the dreams he wanted for

him and his family. So when he went there the pearl buyer ripped him off and offered him 1000

pesos and Kino said "It’s worth 50000 pesos not 1000 pesos". So both of them was being

greedy, the pearl buyers making an offer lower than it’s worth. Kino was also being greedy for

not taking the money offered because the day before he had nothing. If he sold that pearl all of

the bad luck that was happening to them would not have happen. He could have at least got one

or maybe two things that he wanted so badly.




Finally the trackers, the trackers was greedy because they wanted the pearl and they tried to

steal it from Kino. The trackers were even going to kill for it. The only way to stop the trackers

was to take the riffle away and either kill them or to hurt them. So that’s what Kino did and he

did it perfectly the only thing that wasn’t perfect is when the guy with the riffle made one shot.

That one shot was intended to kill a coyote but it actually killed Coyotito.


Greed as a destructive force ended up killing Coyotito and forced Kino to return to his village.

Kino now knew that Juana was right and this pearl has brought bad luck to his family. So he

came back to his village and he went straight to the ocean and threw the pearl of the world back

into the ocean.