Bibliographic Information
O’Dell, S. (1960). Island of the blue dolphins. Cambridge: The Riverside Press.
Summary
This is the story of a young woman who accidentally remains behind on an island when her entire tribe decides to leave. The island, which we later learn is currently called San Nicolas, is shaped like a dolphin lying on its side.
Karana is the daughter of the chief of the tribe. The story begins when she is twelve. A Russian captain comes to their island with his crew of Aleuts to hunt otter. Karana’s father bargains with the Aleuts allowing them to hunt around the island. In return, they would be paid in beads and iron spearheads. A battle occurs when the Aleuts try to leave the island and trick the islanders. Most of the men of the tribe, including Karana’s father, are killed in the battle. The new chief, Kimki, makes a new law that everyone will hunt for food, because there are not enough young men left to support the tribe. Kimki decides the next spring, to get in a canoe and head east to try and find a new place for the tribe to live. The following spring, a boat arrives to take the tribe to the new land. In the confusion of the tribe packing up and leaving the island, Karana’s little brother, Ramo, who is eight, is left behind. Although the captain of the boat has promised to return for her brother, Karana decides to swim back to the island to be with her brother. Just a few days later, Ramo is killed by a pack of wild dogs leaving Karana all alone on the island. Although the laws of the tribe forbid women to make or handle tools, Karana is forced to become inventive and figure out how to do this to survive; not only to collect food but to protect herself from the wild dogs.
She attempts to leave the island and guide herself by the stars. Her canoe starts leaking on the second day, and she is forced to return back to the island. She never again attempts to leave on her own. When she returns, she decides to build a home and use whale ribs that have washed up on the beach to build a fence to keep the predators out. Karana eventually shoots the leader of the wild dog pack, but instead of killing him, she wounds him. She ends up helping to heal him, and the dog, Rontu, becomes her pet. Later in the story, Rontu fights the pack of wild dogs and after winning the battle, the pack never comes around Rontu or Karana again.
Two summers later, the Aleuts return to the island, but Karana is too frightened of them to let them know she has been abandoned and is all alone.
Several years pass and Rontu dies of old age, so Karana finds another dog, which is probably Rontu’s son, and makes a pet out of Rontu-Aru. A tsunami hits the island and she spends one night and one day with earthquakes rocking the island, but there was not much damage.
A ship comes that is not the Aleuts, but by the time she gathers all of her possessions and goes to the beach to let them know that she is there alone, it is gone. Two springs later, the same boat returns. She leaves with them and goes to the Mission Santa Barbara where she learns that all of her tribe members are gone. They sank in a great storm shortly after leaving her and that is why no one had ever come back for her.
We find out at the end that there really was a young woman called The Lost Woman of San Nicolas. She lived alone from 1835-1853 on a remote island that is seventy-five miles southwest of Los Angeles, California.
Impressions
The story had a lot of action. There was never a time that the story slowed down and became boring. It was very interesting that the author, Scott O’Dell, based this story on an actual young woman known as The Lost Woman of San Nicolas. Karana had to endure a great deal of hardships and spent the biggest part of her life alone. Historians believe that the real character was alone on the island for eighteen years. We get a real sense of the fear and loneliness that Karana experienced just by the way O’Dell wrote the story.
Reviews
Finally, check your shelves to see if you need hardcover replacement copies of two collection staples. A 50th Anniversary Edition of Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins (Gr 5-9) is available from Houghton Mifflin. Illustrated with Ted Lewin's luscious full-page artwork (from the 1990 edition), this Newbery Medal winner has a new introduction by Lois Lowry that provides a historical note about the real-life individual upon whom the book was based ("known to history as Juana Maria" or the Lone Woman of San Nicolas) along with insights about the novel's themes and meaning for young readers..
Fleishhacker, Joy. (2011, February 1). Fresh Approaches: Not-to-Miss Anniversary Editions and Reissues. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/mobilemoverflow/889003-462/fresh_approaches_not-to-miss_anniversary_editions.html.csp
In a gripping novel based on a true survival story, O'Dell gives us one of literature's most heroic female protagonists, a Native American girl who lives alone on an island for 18 years. A Newbery Medal winner.
(2000, January 1). One Hundred Books that Shaped the Century. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA153035.html
Gr 5-8 –Based on the life of a real Chumash Indian girl abandoned on an island off the coast of California in the 1800s, this story describes how Karana was self-sustaining for 18 years before rescue. O'Dell details how she made clothing from animal skins, constructed weapons to fend off wild dogs, and dried fish to augment her food supply. This remarkable heroine continues to inspire readers and teach them about Native American lore. Audio book available from Listening Library.
Reutter, Vicki. (2004, May 1). Adventure and Survival. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA413006.html
Library Use
Librarians could use this book to introduce and discuss the characteristics of historical fiction, along with how the author based the novel on a woman that actually lived.
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