Kelly Curtis

Kelly Curtis is one of the characters in the story who has the fortune (Or misfortune, if you choose to look at it that way) of surviving the experience on the island. However, when we meet her, she is just a bored seventh grader in a classroom being instructed via video on a subject she already knows about. Her only friend in school is Arby, or R. B. Benton, an eleven year old boy who has skipped grades. She is considered a freak to her fellow classmates, all because she is good at math. However, she is chosen to help out Richard Levine, a scientist who is trying to prove the existence of dinosaurs in the modern world. Even by Levine, though, she is ignored and looked down upon, just like Arby.

For a while I associated myself with Kelly. We're both very smart, and at times looked down upon because of that. However, we both have very good friends who rely on us and like us just the way we are. We both have a passion for helping out someone who we think will appreciate the work we do. I would love to see dinosaurs up close, just as she does when she takes a trip to the island after stowing away in the trailer with Arby. We both have a sense for adventure and friends that others look down upon, as we are looked down upon ourselves. However, I think that there is where the similarities stop. I have not really been picked on too much for being smart, and I wonder if that is the time difference. This book was written in 1995, almost 16 years ago.

The time difference may be the reason that Kelly is so tormented by her fellow classmates, but I really doubt it. I think that the reason she is picked on so much might be due to the fact that she is a female, and therefore not expected to be as smart. Why is that, though? Why are women not allowed to be smart? It's not like we don't have fully functioning brains as well. Many times, a problem can be solved only by a woman because of her abilities to think differently. So why is that we are still so discriminated against for simply being smart?