O'DELL GABRIEL SCOTT

ISLAND
of Blue
Dolphins
Nguyen Tue Anh - 11A5
Bui Le Kim Ngan - 11A6
Vu Anh Gia Khanh - 11A6
Truong An Khanh - 11A8

11Eng15
FOREIGN LANGUAGE SPECIALIZED SCHOOL
GRoup 3
BOOK
REPORT
 BOOK REPORT – PHASE 1

I. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON THE AUTHOR

Scott O'Dell was born on May 23, 1898, in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in
California, living near the ocean and always fascinated by the sea. Many of his
children's books, including Island of the Blue Dolphins, Zia, and The Black Pearl reflect
these interests.

In 1918, when World War I was happening, he joined the army at the age of
20. Then when World War II broke out, he served in the United States Army Air
Forces. His name used to be Odell Gabriel Scott; however, in one of his earliest
writings, a typesetter's mistake produced an article written by "Scott O'Dell." Scott
liked the new name so much that he changed his name legally in the 1920s.

Scott's first job was with the Palmer Photoplay Company, where he read and
criticized movie scripts written by amateurs. This work led to his first book,
Representative Photoplays Analyzed, which was published in 1924. Before becoming a
full-time writer, he was employed as a cameraman and technical director, a book
columnist for the Los Angeles Mirror, and a book review editor for the Los Angeles
Daily News.

In 1934, O'Dell began writing articles as well as fiction and nonfiction books for
adults. In the late 1950s, he began writing children's books. His first children's book
was Island of the Blue Dolphins.

In 1982, Scott O'Dell established The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction to
encourage other writers to focus on historical fiction. In this way he hoped to
increase the interest of young readers in the historical background that has helped
to shape their country and their world.

Scott O'Dell died of cancer on October 15, 1989, at the age of 91.
(282 words)
II. INTRODUCTION OF THE STORY
“Island of the Blue Dolphins’’ is a 1960 children’s novel written by Scott O’Dell.
It won the Newbery Medal in 1961 and was adapted into a film of the same name in
1964.

The novel is a work of historical fiction based on the true story “The Lost Woman
of San Nicolas’’ about a 12-year-old American Indian girl, Juana Maria, who lived alone
on an island off the Californian coast known as San Nicolas Island, for 18 years before
being discovered and taken to the mainland in 1853 by sea otter hunter George
Nidever and his crew.

The author named this story “Island of the Blue Dolphins”. Thus, the title reflects
the worldview that Karana will come to adopt: that the island doesn’t belong to her,
it really belongs to the blue dolphins and all the living creatures on it and near it.
Kanara’s just a small part of the island.

The story highlights 3 main themes: forgiveness and trust, loneliness and
companionship, and moral development. In “Island of the Blue Dolphins”, Scott O'Dell
has tried to re-create the story of “The Lost Woman of San Nicolas” from the facts
that he was able to gather about her life and to weave together the themes of
''reverence for all life and the Christian ideal of forgiveness’’. Nevertheless, he also
claimed that the book was written with no audience in mind, and it was ''just
something I wanted to say to myself.''
(241 words)

III. STORY’S SUMMARY

The main character is a Nicoleño girl named Karana. She has a brother named
Ramo, whose curiosity usually leads to trouble, and a sister named Ulape. Her people
live in Ghalas-at village and survive by gathering roots and fishing.

One day, a ship of Russian fur hunters and Aleut people led by Captain Orlov arrive
and persuade the Nicoleños to let them hunt sea otters in exchange for other goods.
However, they later decided to swindle the islanders by leaving without paying. After
being confronted by Karana's father “Chief Chowig”, a battle breaks out. Karana's
father and many other men in the tribe sacrifice in the battle. Later, the "replacement
chief" Chief Kimki leaves the island and sends a "giant canoe" to bring his people back
to the mainland. The white missionaries come to Karana's village, asking them to pack
their goods and go to the ship. When the ship is about to sail, Karana's brother “Ramo”
runs off to get his fishing spear, but the ship leaves. Despite restraint, Karana jumps
off the ship and swims back to his brother. Therefore, the ship departs without them.

The siblings live alone on the island, hoping that the ship will return. Tragically,
Ramo is killed by a pack of wild dogs. Alone on the island, Karana survives by hunting,
making spears, and building canoes. She also kills several dogs in the pack and then
tames the leader of the pack and names him Rontu. Over time, Karana makes a home
and a cave to hide from dangers. She also has an otter, named Mon-a-nee.

One summer, the Aleuts return. Karana hides in the cave and observes the Aleuts
closely. Scared of being discovered, Karana goes out only at night, but she
accidentally meets Tutok, a girl who takes care of the domestic duties. Karana and
Tutok exchange gifts and Karana realizes how lonely she has been. Karana wishes
Tutok wouldn’t leave, but the next day she doesn’t show up. Karana goes searching
and sees the ship departing. Sadly, she returns to her house and starts rebuilding.
Soon after, Rontu dies. Karana then finds a young dog named “Rontu-Aru”.

Two years later in the spring, the boat returns. Karana dresses in her finest attire,
a dress of cormorant feathers, and waits for the boat. Her rescuers make a dress for
her which symbolizes a part of her new life. The ship takes Karana, Rontu-Aru, Tainor
and Lurai (the birds) to a mission in Santa Barbara, California. There, Father Gonzales
tells her that the ship that had taken her tribe away had later sunk before it could
return to the Island of the Blue Dolphins for her.
(444 words)

IV. REVIEWS OF THE STORY

The guardian
“Island of the Blue Dolphins” is a unique story. O’ Dell’s use of effective imagery
transports the reader to a wild and deserted island. Moreover, this use of imagery
combined with the brief yet accurate descriptions of island life, creates a silent yet
introspective mood throughout the entire book that allows the reader to mull over
Karana’s plights and triumphs.”

Kimberly Dawn
“A beautiful, true survival story of a resilient young girl who was stranded alone
on an island for 18 years. Karana’s remarkable story is not to be missed. A story that
is as enjoyable for adults as it is for older children!”

Kid, 9 years old (Commonsense Media)

“An amazing action-packed story, with barely any violence. There are some
scenes that Karana has to hunt and kill animals, wild dogs do kill her brother, and her
dad does die.
First of all, Karana has to hunt to survive. She needs food and if that means
hunting animals than that is what she should do. It isn't violent to hunt for animals,
it is simply trying to get food.
Secondly, the wild dogs killed her brother because that is what wild dogs do.
There is nothing wrong with that, they are just simply being untrained dogs. They
don't know better but other people might.
Finally, when Karana's Dad died, that was fault of war. If there is a battle someone
is going to die eventually or get injured. The war was important to the story. I know
that wars are violent, but kids are out there playing Fortnite, a very violent game, and
we are fine with that. When they are reading this it simply part of a book
As you can see “Island of the Blue Dolphins” is an amazing book for kids 8+. It is
important to our history. Kids should be able to learn in more fun ways including
books.”
 BOOK REPORT – PHASE 2

I. CHARACTERS AND THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG THE CHARACTERS

Karana, as known as Won-a-pa-lei, the protagonist and narrator of the book,
spends eighteen years living alone on the island of the blue dolphins. She is twelve
years old when the book starts. Karana is resourceful, strong and hardworking; she
survives on her own after her tribe leaves Ghalas-at. She respects the island
environment and views the animals on the island as her friends. Karana crosses
gender boundaries and challenges what her society has said is only for men or
women. She takes on the jobs of both men and women.

Ulape is Karana’s older sister and Ramo is her younger brother. Ulape likes jewelry.
She's Karana's best friend. She represents sisterhood, companionship, marriage, and
the traditional role of women. Meanwhile, Ramo is very enthusiastic, confident, and
proud of himself and his heritage. When Ramo gets left all alone on the island, Karana
throws herself off the side of the ship to stay with her brother on the island. Ramo
somewhat represents the male islanders.

Their father is Chief Chowig, the chief of Ghalas-at, who is a strong and confident
leader. Chowig represents the male leadership. He warns Karana the Aleuts are
incapable of friendship. He gets killed by the Russian men.

Nanko is a young man Ulape has a crush on. Captain Orlov, the Russian leader of
the Aleut expedition to Ghalas-at, is sarcastic and deceptive, only caring about the
profits to himself. Kimki, the new chief when Chief Chowig passes away, goes out
alone to find a new home for the Ghalas-at but he goes so long that Matasaip is
chosen to be the new chief. Later, Kimki sends the White men from the East to bring
Ghlas-at people away.

The Aleuts are native Americans coming to Ghalas-at to hunt otters in a boat with
red sails. Karana considers them enemies because of what they have done to her
people, but eventually she befriends one of them - Tutok.

Rontu, the leader of the pack of wild dogs on Ghalas-at, has yellow eyes and gray
fur. He was brought there by the Aleuts. Although Rontu and Karana are enemies at
the beginning, they become friends after Karana injures Rontu and then takes care
of him back. Tainor and Lurai are Karana’ birds. Mon-a-nee (later Won-a-nee) is an
otter Karana finds injured after the Aleuts left her island. Rontu-Aru is “son of Rontu”,
Karana befriends him after Rontu dies.
(400 words)
Relationship map

II. LANGUAGE AND RHETORICAL DEVICES

The style of language in The Island of Blue Dolphins is modern as the words used
are very simple and easy to understand. This is also because the book was published
in the 19th century, 1960 to be more specific. At that time, the modern style of
language was developing and breaking traditional ways of writing. Scott O'Dell, the
author of this book, has demonstrated this style of language through his wonderful
writing skills and three main rhetorical devices.

One of the three major rhetorical devices is repetition. It is used to emphasize

the sequence of events that occurs when Karana finds Rontu in the forest under
attack by the pack of wild dogs mimicking the scene in which she discovers that
Ramo has been killed by the pack almost exactly. By making one scene resemble the
other so closely, O'Dell evokes the same emotions in the reader for both scenes. By
changing the outcomes, O'Dell is able to show a progression, make a contrast, or
highlight a similarity.

The second rhetorical device used in this modern style of language is

personification. The words utilized to personificate animals, flora and other things
are very easy to understand. Readers can effortlessly imagine the scenes described
in the sentences. From the very beginning of Island of the Blue Dolphins, it is seen
that Karana speaks with a very distinctive voice. She speaks as if the entire world
around her is alive. The next detail is “The wind drowned my voice, and he did not
answer” (p31). Karana emphasizes that the wind was so strong that her voice couldn’t
appear. In addition, “The thought of being alone on the island while so many suns
rose from the sea and went slowly back into the sea filled my heart with loneliness.”
(p45) Karana emphasizes the feeling of loneliness whenever she thinks about being
lonely on the island for good. Besides, like two giants they crashed against each
other." She also tends to ascribe human characteristics to animals—she describes
Won-a-nee as looking at her "reproachfully". Such use of language reveals her view
of the world around her as living, and more specifically of animals as creatures similar
to people, a view she comes to hold later in the novel.

The last rhetorical device is comparison. This device contributes to helping

readers picture the activities as well as the appearance of people or animals in the
village. Readers can even see such things through Karana’s perspective by
understanding the comparisons used in sentences. This method is used when Karana
describes the island where she lives - the Island of Blue Dolphins: “If you were
standing on one of the hills that rise in the middle of it, you would think that it looked
like a fish. 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
shores.”. She seems to believe the island's name is inspired by the way it looks, like a
dolphin. Next, Ramo said: “In the morning when he crawls out of his tent he sits on a
rock and combs until the beard shines like a cormorant’s wing” to describe Captain
Orlov. Perhaps Ramo wants to emphasize how careful Captain Orlov is to prepare for
his daily appearance. What is more, Karana describes the harshness as well as danger
of the fight between people on the island and the Aleuts by saying: “The long spears
flying like arrows.” She also describes how scary the storm was by the sentence: “A
whirrring sound like a great bird in flight passed above our heads”. In addition, here
is how Karana describes Matasaip as unscrupulous when they find out Ramo was left
on the island alone and Matasaip refuses to let the ship return: “Matasaip’s face was
like stone.”. “A little boy with thin arms and legs like sticks.” Karana describes her
brother - Ramo. He seems to be a small kid with very thin arms and legs. “Sometimes
the noises seemed angry and at other times like people laughing.” Karana describes
the noises made from the waves under the canoe. She compares them to “people
laughing” perhaps because she misses the time when there were people on the island,
when she was not alone. Lastly, Karana depicts the beauty of the island in the early
morning: “But the morning broke clear and in front of me lay the dim line of the island
like a great fish sunning itself on the sea.” Accordingly, it is undeniable that things
used to be compared are not strange to us, they are all imaginable or even accessible.
The modern style of language makes this device much more understandable through
the simple words and sentences. It also allows readers to see how imaginary the
characters are.

Throughout the three main devices and other words, sentences in the book, the
use of the modern style of language is very clear. This style of writing has made the
book easy to understand, intriguing and enable readers to imagine or view through
the characters’ perspectives.

III. REFLECTION
Rationale
As a student and a young reader, “Island of the Blue Dolphins” has genres which
are believed to be perfectly suitable for us: children’s literature and historical fiction.
Children’s literature provides us with numerous opportunities to respond to
literature and to develop emotional intelligence and creativity. Meanwhile, historical
fiction is regarded as a great way for young readers to experience history and
literature at the same time. We also pick this book in terms of its suitable length.
Although the book has only 177 pages, the meaning in it is widely perceived as
expressively deep.

Favorite detail
Among the handful of meaningful details in the story, there is one that stands out
above all: when Karana realizes there is no point in waiting for the white men to
return. “I was happy to be home. Everything I saw - the otter playing in the kelp, the
rings of foam around the rocks, the gulls flying, the tides moving past the sandspit -
filled me with happiness.” After desperately trying to cross the sea with only a canoe,
Karana sees Ghalas-at as her home; even though she is alone, the loneliness inside
her no longer exists. On the same island, her feelings are the opposite of those only
three days before since her experience alone on the island has shown her a new light.
This gives us a clear insight at how mature and brave a 15-year-old girl alone on an
island could be.

Disliked detail
Although we enjoyed the book, there is still a detail in the story that doesn’t please
us. That’s when Ramo is killed by wild dogs. Being the only member of the family
staying with Karana at that time; therefore, Ramo is a source of happiness for Karana.
However, Karana witnesses her beloved brother being killed by wild dogs in a cruel
way. “He was lying on his back and had a deep wound in his throat. He lay very still.
When I picked him up, I knew that he was dead. There were other wounds on his
body from the teeth of the wild dogs”. Karana has suffered through the sense of loss
- the loss of father and brother respectively. It is too merciless to the 12-year-old girl.
This tragedy makes Karana's discomfort grow when she realizes just how alone she
is. Moreover, this death is excruciatingly painful for a 6-year-old boy like Ramo.

Change to problematic detail

As we mentioned above, the detail “Ramo is killed by wild dogs” is overly sad.
Therefore, we would like to suggest a change to this detail, that is Ramo can live with
his sister instead of being killed by feral dogs. First, Ramo is just 6 years old and a
very enthusiastic boy, so he deserves to have a better life. Second, Karana spends
eighteen years as the only living person on the island in solitude, so her greatest
comfort will come from living with dear ones. Finally, even when Karana is rescued
from the island after 18 years, her life cannot be as happy as it used to be if there are
no beloved people. Those are the reasons why we recommend this change.

The impact of the story

“Island of the Blue Dolphins” is a very special book since it is O’Dell’s first historical
fiction book having the target age group as children. Karana must deal with the
ferocious wild dogs that killed her brother, lose loved ones, and live in solitude for 18
years. Her courage, self-reliance, and grit have let readers experience breathtaking
adventures. Karana is a powerful example of independence for children. Moreover,
the story has numerous precious relationships, some of which cannot exist until the
ending that inspires and reminds kids to appreciate the happy life they have.
In conclusion, “Island of the Blue Dolphins” is full of humane values, containing
forgiveness, truth, loneliness, and companionship. Also, the story records Karana’s
moral development process. Eventually, Karana learns to forgive and trust someone
she had formerly considered an enemy and becomes mature like that.
(657 words)