Island of the Blue Dolphins

Written by Scott O'Dell

Narrated by Christina Moore

"Our island is like a dolphin lying on its side, with its tail pointing toward the sunrise, its nose pointing to the sunset, and its fins making reefs and the rocky ledges along the shore." Karana, a Ghalas-at Indian, lives peacefully on the island with her tribe until the arrival of a Russian otter-hunting ship. In spite of the deal the Aleutian hunters make with her father, the Ghalas-at chief, in the end they prove treacherous, killing most of the tribe. Karana's younger brother, Ramo, is all that is left of her family. Fearful of the Aleuts' return, the remaining Indians decide to move to another island, and are offered safe passage by some friendly ships. But as Karana boards the ship to leave the island forever, she is unable to find Ramo, and swims back to shore to search for him. Abandoned by the ships, Karana must draw on reserves of resourcefulness, and courage in order to survive. Island of the Blue Dolphins is based on the true story of an Indian girl who lived for 18 years on an island off the coast of California.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 1, 1992
• ISBN: 9781501957390

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.

Reviews for Island of the Blue Dolphins

[faith_murri · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was the first book that I ever really loved. I first read it when I was about 10 or 11, and I fell in love with Scott O'Dell's writing, getting my hands on any of his books that I could find at my elementary school library. It really made me into a reader. But I hadn't read it in about a decade, and I was curious how well it would hold up to my adult mind.

IT WAS EVEN BETTER!!!

I originally rated this 4 stars, rather arbitrarily, but this reread proved that this is truly an amazing piece of historical fiction, especially for children. Even for its time, it does a great job at portraying Native American peoples in a humanizing light, as well as young girls (which is amazing, because Scott O'Dell was clearly a white adult male).

It's compelling and action-packed, and extremely educational. I really felt for Karana as she lives abandoned on an island for the majority of her life, missing her family but feeling unable to leave her home. Making new friends and losing them. Growing and changing as a woman. It's short but it's excellent, and I highly suggest it.

[Tiffany Stack · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a great story. It was great to listen to.

[Andriette Rossouw · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was such a relaxed, beatuful story! Thank you to the writer!

[cfranson-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Karana lives on one of the islands of the coast of what is now California with her people when Aleuts and a white man arrive on the island and want to fish. The arrivals treacherously steal from the people and when they protest, a fight breaks out leaving many men dead. Another ship arrives later, they decide to leave, but Karana gets left behind and stays on the island for many years, hunting, fishing, and living on her own.Based on "the Lone Woman of San Nicolas," Island of the Blue Dolphins imagines a name and back story for a woman whom we don't know much about. It's an adventure and survival story that I couldn't help comparing to Call it Courage, another Newbery award winner I read recently, but it is less of a fable in its character study and has more to it than just a series of survival events. We get Karana's innermost thoughts and sense of loneliness and strength.

[thewallflower-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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).

[t1bclasslibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is based on a true story, but is mostly elaboration. Karana leaves the ship sailing away from her island in order to rejoin her little brother who has been left behind. In the end she is left alone to face challenges, feed and shelter herself, endure the passing seasons, and endure her biggest challenge- loneliness. She is surrounded by an adopted family of animals on the island, but she still longs for human companionship.

[linyarai · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A great classic.

[urhockey22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Outstanding book. I have not read it in years, but it is beautifully written.

[nadinec.keels · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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.

[ynaffit27 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book seemed boring at first because of the way it was written but after I found out it was based on a true story--than I understood why it was written from a distant perspective. I really liked all the incidents that happened and the way they were created made you feel like you were part of it. I felt for her love of animals and how she coped with her loneliness. Everything seemed placed right. Good read.

[sdorsey_12 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book! I read it 7 times in fourth grade!

[amspicer · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel is great for a class read aloud or for students to simply enjoy on their own leisure time. It is a story about a 12 year old girl on a remote island with her family. A crisis soon arises when her and her six year old brother ind themselves stranded on the island...

[nikolejosh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Summary This is a story about an Indian girl named Karana, who becomes stranded on the island alone. Karana jumped off the ship that was her tribe was killed on that sunk at sea to stay behind and care for her younger brother. Soon after being back on the island her brother was killed by a pack of wild dogs. When she was the only human left she became very resourceful and used the bones and gathered food. She befriends a wild dog that became her pet. She learns on her own how to survive for18 years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins and tries to leave the island once but fails. At the end of the book she is finally rescued by Spaniards that heard about the story of her tribe and goes to the island to rescue any survivors. Personal ReactionI really liked this book. The author did a great job putting what experiences she could've had. It is a great book to read for people of all ages young and old. It's a very interesting story that is amazing for someone to survive that long on an island by herself and survive that long. I would recommend this book.Classroom Extension 1) I would ask students to list and describe the 5 things they would take in order for them to survive on the island and if they would take something to remember their family and friends.2)Ask students to draw the island or a scene of the book.

[beckytillett · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[bibliophile26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Newbery Award winning book from the 1960's, the book tells a story of an Indian girl who survives alone on an island for almost 20 years. The things the girl is able to do are amazing (like fighting a pack of wild dogs) and what is even more amazing is that the book was based on a true story. I couldn't make it a week on an island alone; I'm not outdoorsy or handy and am too used to my creature comforts, like air conditioning.

[av0415 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's slow paced but the flow of the story is somewhat entertaining. It's about the life of a girl left alone in an island, how she managed to survived, the creatures she made friends with, and how she was finally rescued from that deserted island. I was surprised at the end when the author noted that there really was a person like that, his name is Robinson Crusoe and he stayed in the island for almost 18 years.

[cmullenix_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a book about an Indian girl, Karana, who gets marooned on and island for 18 years after a fight breaks out between her people and people let by a Russian captain. She survives on the island for 18 years using her skills. She uses whale bones and seal skin to make a house, she hunts for food, and find water. She is rescued only to die seven weeks later. In Georgia, there was a reading program that we used called READ 180. In this program, this book was a fixture during one of the units. I read is several times over the years that I worked there. The kids enjoyed the book especially the parts about how she survived. It sort of dragged a bit for me but was a good story. In a classroom, I would give the kids the scenario of being left on and island and find out what sort of thing that they could do to survive. The we could read the book together and afterwards see if we did any of the same things that Karana did.

[msnikki · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Sad story taken from the point of view of the indigenous people, when the Old World meets new. Read it on Columbus Day.

[ladycato · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book probably twenty times over when I was a kid, so it was interesting to revisit it as an adult. I'm pleased to say that, unlike a lot of other childhood reads, this held up well, though the sadness of the circumstances around the real story hit me pretty hard. O'Dell's inspiration is based on a Native American woman who, when the rest of her tribe left their remote island off the Southern California coast, stayed behind. She ended up living alone for 18 years. The way O'Dell handled her survival story and the passage of time is deftly done. You never really come to know Karana in an intimate way, which makes it easier to feel like you, the reader, are the one who is surviving alone. This newer version of the book includes a forward by acclaimed children's author Lois Lowry that adds more context for the real and fictional stories.

[eleanorr_34 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting story about a young women who lives on a island with her tribe on a island. One day there village is forced to move from the island and she is accidently left behind on the island because she goes back for her brother who missed the boat. She and her brother must live on the island where there a mad dogs on the island and then she has do deal with a terrible tragic thing. This was a pretty good book about survial

[callmechristina · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I remember loving this book as a kid. I'd like to read it again: I really enjoyed it but I don't remember what it was about.

[zoes_human · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Island of the Blue Dolphins was inspired by the true story of Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island. It is a highly-fictionalized account of her survival alone on the island. While the story weaves in a handful of known elements, it takes liberties with some of the facts in order to create a story that is appropriate for and appeals to the young. Reading further on the topic from multiple sources is highly recommended as there is much in the way of contradictory information about the events, and the book deviates far too much to be taken as history on any level.Regardless of accuracy, it is still a story with great appeal for young readers. It was the first assigned book I remember rereading repeatedly. In particular, it suited me as an only child and an animal lover.

[hollywood75 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story is about a yound native american who is abandoned on a remote island with her brother to fend for themselves. It teaches us that as humans we can overcome all the challenges that are presented to us. This story reminded me of the movie "Castaway" with Tom Hanks but the main character is a girl with many skills in place from her tibe to help her survive.

[juliette07_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A classic story of survival against the odds. The story of a strong and very competent young girl named Karana, a native Indian who is marooned on the island of the title. The narrative was simple but compelling. We learn of her struggle for survival, the fabricating of weapons and clothes and her befriending of animals yet there is very little emotional insight into her character. Based loosely on the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island story this historical fiction was worthy of the Newbery Award in 1961. I really appreciated the author’s note at the end of the book regarding the historical and geographical setting of his story and I would love to know more of the Island as it is today.I found myself considering the extent to which contemporary children and young people would persevere, relish and enjoy this story as much as their earlier counterparts. It would, as many have previously pointed out, be an excellent vehicle to discuss many aspects of survival as well as a myriad of other themes. In my opinion the ending was too sudden and I feel that the author missed an opportunity to encourage onward thinking as the final sentence drew the book to a close. Overall, a read of interest and engagement but not as outstanding as many of the Newbery Award winners.

[nastad_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked it.

[aimless22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great story of the human will to survive. Girl lives for eighteen years alone on an island. Fascinating account of her day to day work to survive and stay sane.

[mickaelwilliams · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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

[sstelz2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In my opinion, I think “Island of the Blue Dolphins” is a terrific chapter book for older children to read. The story is about a girl named Karana. Karana is a young girl when her father and much of her tribe gets killed by a group of Aleut Indians. The Aleuts attack her people and her home. The people that are left in Karana’s tribe plan to seek new land. The new chief sets sail and sends a ship back for Karana and the others left in her tribe. When Karana is about to leave with the ship, she notices that her brother is not there. She leaves the ship and goes searching for him. The ship leaves without Karana. Karana finds her brother, but he does not live very long. In a matter of time, Karana is completely alone on the island. There is no one left on the island, and there is no one coming back to the island to save her. The book tells all about her ways of surviving alone on the island. For eighteen years, Karana is alone, and she survives alone. The story’s plot is extremely suspenseful, and it leaves the reader wanting to read more. The story’s writing also flows very smoothly which makes it easier to read. The book uses descriptive language to describe how Karana survives. For example, Karana says, “I gathered gull eggs on the cliff and Ramo speared a string of small fish in one of the tide pools. The morning was fresh from the rain. The smell of the tide pools was strong. Sweet odors came from the wild grasses in the ravines and from the sand plants on the dunes.” Overall, I believe that children will be interested in reading this book. This book broadens students’ perspectives on human survival. This book teaches readers about what “bare necessities” really are. Students will learn that water, food, and shelter are the bare necessities that every person needs to live. People who have family, friends, and anything else in addition to bare necessities are lucky and should feel grateful. The big idea is to get children to appreciate their lives and the people in their lives.

[aimeestanaland · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is about a teenage girl named Karana who lives on a Pacific island called Ghalas-At. Her father is the tribe leader and she has a younger brother, Ramo, and an older sister, Ulape. A tribe of Aleuts come to their island to hunt otters and when they do not pay for the otter pelts they want to take back to Alaska, the Aleuts, under the command of a Russian captain, kill almost all of the men of the tribe, including Karana’s father. About a year later, the tribe decides to leave Ghalas-At and head towards California. A ship comes to take the tribe but Karana soon realizes that her brother is not on the ship. Not wanting to leave him, she dives off of the boat and stays with her brother, losing her chance to leave the island because the ship cannot stay due to bad weather. Her tribesmen promise they will send another boat back for her and Ramo. The next day, Ramo is killed by a pack of angry dogs. Now Karana must live on the island by herself. Her only constant companions are the animals on the island, including Rontu, the dog that killed her brother. Karana makes her own weapons, shelter, canoe, and other supplies in order for her to survive on the island. She faces attacks by the pack of wild dogs, the fear of the Aleuts returning to her island, her need to survive while still maintaining hope that she will leave the island when the ship returns, which it does almost ten years later. This book would make a great mentor text because the book focuses on historical narratives, emotions, death, and survival. These are topics that can be taught to children in the upper elementary school grades. Students can learn perspective from Karana's adventures and life on the island, a lifestyle that is completely different from their own. This book can also help students understand the impact of history and how other groups of people can harm and endanger those who are in one's way for success, as the ship of Aleuts did in this book.