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    Island of the Blue Dolphins
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    Island of the Blue Dolphins
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    Island of the Blue Dolphins
    Ebook151 pages3 hours

    Island of the Blue Dolphins

    By Scott O'Dell

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Far off the coast of California looms a harsh rock known as the island of San Nicholas. Dolphins flash in the blue waters around it, sea otter play in the vast kep beds, and sea elephants loll on the stony beaches.

    Here, in the early 1800s, according to history, an Indian girl spent eighteen years alone, and this beautifully written novel is her story. It is a romantic adventure filled with drama and heartache, for not only was mere subsistence on so desolate a spot a near miracle, but Karana had to contend with the ferocious pack of wild dogs that had killed her younger brother, constantly guard against the Aleutian sea otter hunters, and maintain a precarious food supply.

    More than this, it is an adventure of the spirit that will haunt the reader long after the book has been put down. Karana's quiet courage, her Indian self-reliance and acceptance of fate, transform what to many would have been a devastating ordeal into an uplifting experience. From loneliness and terror come strength and serenity in this Newbery Medal-winning classic.

    In celebration of the book's 50th anniversary, this edition has an introduction by Lois Lowry, Newbery Medal-winning author of The Giver and Number the Stars.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherClarion Books
    Release dateFeb 8, 2010
    ISBN9780547488899
    Author

    Scott O'Dell

    Scott O’Dell (1898–1989), one of the most respected authors of historical fiction, received the Newbery Medal, three Newbery Honor Medals, and the Hans Christian Andersen Author Medal, the highest international recognition for a body of work by an author of books for young readers. Some of his many books include The Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Road to Damietta, Sing Down the Moon, and The Black Pearl.

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    Reviews for Island of the Blue Dolphins

    4/5

    2,999 ratings134 reviews

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    • 4/5
      5569. Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell (read 14 Jul 2018) Every once in a while I read juvenile books which seem to me I should read. This book is a famed book which purports to tell the story of a girl who lived on San Nicolas Island, off the coast of California alone for 18 years ending in 1853. It seems quite improbable but depicts the girl as quite a resourceful girl, as she lived her Robinson Crusoe existence. It reads easily and I even found it a bit poignant,, particularly when her dog--which she had tamed from the feral state--dies. And the girl evolves,on her own, from a killer of animals to a more likeable persona. I have read less interesting juvenile books.
    • 4/5
      This 1960 novel of a girl who is left all alone on a smallish island when the rest of her people relocate elsewhere was, I think, already considered something of a classic when I first read it as a kid in the 1970s. I think I actually read it several times, but I remembered very little about it -- just enough for me to feel a sense of deja vu on re-reading it now.And I was surprised by how well it held up. Adult me wasn't quite as enthralled with the story as I think young me was, reading what was probably the first such survival tale I ever encountered, and I did find myself wishing, just a little, for a longer, more fleshed-out and detailed telling. But I can absolutely see why kid me found it compelling, and I still liked it and even, in the end, found it unexpectedly moving. Also, how glad am I that, in reviewing a book from 1960 about a girl from an indigenous society, I don't have to add comments like, "Well, you do have to keep in mind that it's a product of its time"? Very. Very glad.What I'm really wondering now, though, is how I ever managed to forget the fact that this was based on a true story, albeit one about which very few details are known. That really does add an extra layer of poignancy to the experience of reading it, I think. You can't help but wonder about the lost story of the poor woman (probably not a girl as young as the one in the novel) who actually lived this life, or one like it.
    • 4/5
      I first read this in 3rd or 4th grade, but I didn't remember most of what happened so I don't even count it as a reread. This is a classic book about Karana, a Native American girl who is left behind on an island off the California coast in the 1800s (what I didn't know was that it was based on a true story, which is pretty cool). She spends many years (mostly) alone, surviving on her own with the occasional animal and human companion. This is a very internal book, made up mostly of descriptions of Karana's thoughts and actions. It is beautifully written, and even though you get the sense that nothing bad will happen to her, the suspense is still present. Although, the ending seems a little more ambiguous now that I'm reading it as an adult...
    • 5/5
      liked it! Sad though in some places.
    • 4/5
      I liked it.
    • 3/5
      Kind of a downer.
    • 4/5
      In the Pacific, there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea birds abound. Karana is the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Hers is not only an unusual adventure of survival, but also a tale of natural beauty and personal discovery.
    • 1/5
      I had to read this as the summer read along with my incoming sixth grade students. I read it, but it was not as impactful as I hoped. I didn't get The Big Thrill that I'd anticipated. Actually, it was boring, and I'm struggling to see how my kids could develop some cool projects out of it, besides the usual diorama of the landscape, journal entries pretending to be the protagonist, etc. This book fits right in there with Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (The Yearling) and Jean Craighead George (The Talking Earth), and I don't see how the faraway life struggle against nature is relevant to today's kids anymore; it's as distant as Harry Potter's magical fantasies.
    • 5/5
      this book is amazing i love it soo much and even though i don't usually like sad books this one was really good
    • 4/5
      My mom made me read this book in the 8th grade. At first I fought the Idea. When i finally got into the book I loved it. In the Pacific, there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea birds abound. Karana is the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Hers is not only an unusual adventure of survival, but also a tale of natural beauty and personal discovery.
    • 4/5
      this book is very venturous. its about a girl who had to go against her tradition her tradition to survive. her tradition was that women couldn't go to war and couldn't make weapons. her brother was eaten by a wild dogs. she lived on an island by herself for the rest of her life well most of her life . she was a brave girl she could make good weapons even though she was a girl and she had good aim shooting the wild dogs with her bow and arrow. when the Russians and her dad and the tribe went to war a lot of people died including the Russians that's y she had to do what she had to do
    • 5/5
      a beautiful book that demonstrates sacrifice and courage
    • 2/5
      I read this to my daughter to completion, so I added it to my collection, though I would never have chosen to read it myself. This is book is supposed to be a classic, but I did not find it interesting. But I'm sure that's just me -- I'm not into survival stories like Hatchet and White Fang. In this case, it's a native girl who was left behind on an island when everyone else fled to somewhere more mainland. She builds shelters, finds water, harvests fish and seafood, makes friends with the wildlife, all typical survival stuff.My problem is that it doesn't really build toward something. There's no rising action. There's a teensy amount of dialogue. The action is frontloaded to the beginning. And at some point, you wonder why this story is important (and you don't find out until the end that it's because this was a true story -- hence the dullness).
    • 5/5
      This is one of my very favorite books as I was growing up. I read it several times, imagining myself as Karana, living alone on an island. I loved it!
    • 5/5
      This is a really great book. Karana, the main character, is going to leave the Island of the Blue Dolphins with the rest of her family, but her brother is left behind and she swims back to take care of him. Then, her brother is killed by wolves, and she swears revenge on them. Later, she changes her mind when the leader makes friends with her and follows her everywhere. The wolf and Karana have many wonderful adventures together, including trying to go to the island that her family went to. Then, when the old leader dies, his son takes his place in Karana's hut. Together, they are rescued by some Englishmen, and they are brought back to the mainland (the U.S.A.) I recommend this book to girls who like adventures.
    • 4/5
      I liked all the friends (including the animals) that she made! At the beginning of the story, I seemed bored of the book, but as I kept reading, it just got better and better. There were many sad events in the story, but as many, or even more, happy parts of the book to make up for all the sad parts that were deeply emotional. I will never forget Karana, Rontu, Rontu-Aru, Tutok, or Won-A-Nee (Mon-A-Nee). I think Karana was a very brave girl living with only animals on the island. This is a great novel! I hope a lot of people will also enjoy this book.
    • 3/5
      A great classic.
    • 5/5
      It just was amazing I loved it so much ??
    • 4/5
      Island of the Blue Dolphins is about a Native American girl named Karana who is left abandoned on an island after her tribe was attacked by Aleutian hunters. She fights to survive by herself, feeling so alone and far away from her people. I would use this book in an ELA or social studies classroom. For instruction, I would use this book to introduce my students to the cruelty Native Americans faced (along with many other minority groups). This book also teaches great lessons about perseverance and strength in times where it would be easier to just give up.
    • 4/5
      I thought this book was awesome it was so interesting and intriguing.
    • 2/5
      Karana is twelve years old when her people leave their island, but circumstances leave her behind. Her story of years of survival on her own unfolds in Island of the Blue Dolphins by author Scott O'Dell.After recently reading and becoming engrossed in Sing Down the Moon by the same author, I decided to revisit this Newbery Medal-winning children's classic based on true events. I remember listening to the reading of it back when I was eleven or so, but the author's writing style didn't do much for me back then.So I tried again, curious to see if adulthood would give me a new appreciation for this book. As I read, it reminded me of the movie Cast Away at times, what with a lone human being fending for herself on an island: building shelter, hunting and gathering food, facing the elements and hostile wild animals, etc. And some parts here and there moved me, particularly near the beginning.On the whole, though, this still wasn't the most interesting book for me. Lots of solitude, very little dialogue, and although the heroine is a brave, self-reliant girl-turned-woman, I wouldn't have stuck with this understated account about living in nature if I didn't know it would be a quick read.Still, because I have enjoyed one book by this author, I plan on trying at least one more.
    • 4/5
      First Line: I remember the day the Aleut ship came to our island.I'm not quite sure how I missed this one growing up. With a 1960 copyright date, it was certainly around when I was young, but somehow it got lost in the shuffle, and I never read it. I've now corrected that oversight, and I'm glad I did.In the Pacific Ocean, there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Blue dolphins, sea elephants, birds, otters... wildlife is abundant there. When the strangers come in their red-sailed ship, Karana's father reluctantly gives them permission to fish and to hunt for otters in their waters, but their hunting comes to a bad end. Not long afterward, a ship comes for Karana's people, and they gather their belongings and climb aboard. When Karana sees that her little brother is left behind on the island, she jumps ship and swims back.Unfortunately Karana soon finds herself all alone on the island. She spends year after year there, but this isn't a tale merely of survival, it's a story of a girl who truly appreciates the natural world surrounding her. My eyes were riveted to the page as she built herself shelter, a canoe, fought off wild dogs, and explored the island. An author's note in the back told me that this story was based on fact, and that explanation made the book even more special.I can see why this book is a Newbery Medal winner. Island of the Blue Dolphins has a wonderful setting and a character into whom we can all project ourselves. It wasn't just Karana building a shelter or trying to outsmart the wild dogs-- I was, too. When I finished the last page, I had to sit quietly and let the sea breeze calm and the vision of a fish-shaped island sunning itself in the sea quietly fade away.
    • 3/5
      This is a really good book! If you have read it you should really check out the sequel to it. It's called ZIA. :)
    • 5/5
      This was one of my all time favorite novels as a child. I used to imagine the same thing happening to me (usually in a forest rather than an island, since that's where I lived). Read and reread.
    • 5/5
      Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell This is a chapter book, reading level 5.5. When a tribe of Indians who had lived for thousands of years on an island measuring just 3 miles by 9 miles leaves the island, one girl is left behind. This is the story of her life beginning before the white men came to fish for otters in 1602 to her rescue some 20 years later. There are facts known about this girl and many myths. The book attempts to tell her story as well as possible. Rich in descriptions, youngsters will imagine her life well and be interested in what becomes of her. Newbery winner.
    • 3/5
      When Karana is left behind with her brother on an island, they fight to survive. After her brother is killed by a pack of wild dogs, Karana must survive alone. She does her best to find food and fend off the wild dogs, as well as avoid enemy attacks. She almost escapes on a canoe, only to have her boat spring a leak. She barely makes it back to the island. This book is a good historical fiction to read and discuss with students. This is based on a true story and has rich vocabulary and ideas for students to experience.
    • 4/5
      In the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California there is an island called the Island of the Blue Dolphins where a young girl names Karana is left to live alone for 18 years. This girl is faced with the death of her brother by wild dogs, ordeals with octopi and hunters that visit the island and would kill her if they knew she was there. This book would be a great read-aloud. The writing lends itself to a slow pace that allows for the audience to enter the world of Karana. The story is based on a true story and is a Newbery winner.
    • 4/5
      It was a really good book for children. If you're planning to join Survivor then you must read this ;p. It was hard to put down. It was really exciting in a way despite the lack of characters. I really love Rontu, it was sad when he died. A nice "coming-of-age" story.
    • 4/5
      This is a story of a young girl, Karana, living on an island with her people. A ship comes to take them away from the island after many of their people were massacred by hunters. The people no longer wanted to live there anymore. Karana is ready to leave on the ship with the rest of her people when she realizes her brother is missing. She jumps in the water to go get him and ends up being left as well because of the storms that were coming. Her brother is killed not long after this by a pack of wild dogs, so Karana is left on the island alone. She becomes strong and makes a home for herself as well as weapons. She lives for a long time until a ship does come back and takes her to another land. I thought this book is a good story for young readers. The story that develops here is probably something that children nowadays would ever think about or picture happening to them. Classroom Extensions: I would use this book as literature for the whole class and do shared reading and discussion with it as the students read a chapter a day. This would involve the students making predictions on what might happen and how they feel about the situations Karana is facing everyday. I would have the student write a letter to Karana or a poem for her telling her the way they feel about her situation.
    • 4/5
      Such a famous book that I had never read until I moved to the California coast and realized this took place right "in the neighborhood." I love the story, the slow-moving one-day-into-another pace with rich descriptions of otters and starfish and wild dogs and pelicans and the occasional surreal event (spoiler alert: skeleton playing a pelican-bone flute). I am something less (much less) than a survivalist and would most likely not have lasted three hours on the island. But I greatly admire this young woman who developed incredible survival skills and the writer who imagined her story.