Kino is a man. He has a wife and a baby boy Juana and Koyotito. His job is to look for pearls. One day he finds a giant pearl! He and every body else who sees his pearl thinks it's worth millions. But when they go to the pearl dealers the highest bid they get is 5000. That made Kino mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He decided he would go the capital to sell it. At night he walks out of his house and somebody attacks him. He kills them in self-defense. Now Juana thinks the pearl is evil. She tries to sneak it away but Kino catches and stops her. The next night someone sets their house on fire and breaks their unfixable canoe. All the villagers think they are dead but they run away. Some evil people are tracking them because they want to steal the pearl. Kino and his family lead the trackers into the mountains and kill them. But while doing so Koyotito gets shot. In their sadness they hurl the pearl the pearl into the sea.

I think it is interesting that John Steinbeck made the readers aware that Kino always hears songs. For example, there is the song of the family which is very peaceful and soothing. Then there is the song of evil, which is loud, throbbing, and scary. I'm not really sure if these songs are in Kino's head or if they are just what's around him that he calls songs. It is strange and interesting at the same time.

The moral of the story is: Don't let greed take you over!!!

Fizzy, age 10