The Island of the Blue Doplins by Scott O'Dell

 

Island of the Blue Dolphins  

(Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; 10th edition-1960)

By: Scott O'Dell

Grade: 5

Once indians lived on the island, but when they left and sailed east they left one young girl behind.  This story is about an Indian girl names Karana that has to learn how to survive the obstacles that she comes across while on the island. Year after year, she watched one season pass into another and waited for a ship to take her away. But while she waited, she kept herself alive by building a shelter, making weapons, finding food, and fighting her enemies, the wild dogs. It is not only an unusual adventure of survival, but also a tale of natural beauty and personal discovery. It is a great story about making the most of what you have and not giving up. It would have been easy for a young child to be unaware how to survive if they were left alone. It is a good idea to teach students how to take care of themselves if anything may happen to them.

Theme/Skills Taught: Survival/Character Comparisons & Survival Techniques

About the Author: Scott O’Dell’s name was created as a mistake. He was born Odell Gabriel Scott, but while he was working as a newspaper reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News, an editor mistakenly wrote Scott O’Dell as his byline. The name stuck, and O’Dell legally changed it. After his newspaper days, he began writing books for adults. Beginning in the late 1950s, however, his focus shifted, and he started writing for young adults. He wrote over twenty-six young adult novels, three books for adults, and four nonfiction books. His most famous work is Island of the Blue Dolphins, which won the 1961 Newbery Medal, among other awards. More information about Scott

Pre-Reading Activities: Have students try to identify the components of courage. You might start them off by listing "resolve" and "inner strength." Ask students to help define these terms and to name other aspects of courage. Then challenge them to find examples to share with the class. They might find poems or short stories in which characters show inner strength, newspaper articles that describe people who have shown resolve, and so on. As students read, they can think about how Karana shows courage.

Post Reading Activities: Have the students create a relief map of the community (without businesses and restaurants) and have them put the ways they would be able to survive off the land on the map, like Karana was able to survive on the island. Then, the students will need to write how they were survive on the land and compare it to Karana's experience.