1. Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O’Dell

2. Summary
Island of the Blue Dolphins is based on a true story of a 12-year-old Indian girl of the Ghalas-at community on the island of San Nicolas. She was called “Lost Woman of San Nicolas.” It is a story of courage, endurance, and survival. O’Dell uses the story to show his anger at greedy hunters who exterminate wildlife and his concern for the fair treatment, and respect for, all people.

3. Genre
Historical Fiction: Stories that take place in the past and often contains historical people but the plot is mostly imagined.

4. Setting The setting is critical to the plot of the story
Ghalas-Gat village, San Nicolas, Channel Islands, near California in the mid-1800s

5. Tone
Frank
Matter-of-fact
Flowing
Full of metaphors

6. Who are the Aleuts?
They lived on the Alaskan Peninsula and Aleutian Islands. They lived in small villages and hunted various sea mammals from large open boats or small one-or-two-persons kayaks.

7. The Russian
In 1784, Russian fur traders arrived to hunt for sea otters, which were abundant in the region of the Aleuts.

8. Environmental Aspects
Sea Otter hunting: Until the mid-1700s, sea otters were abundant. Russian hunters talked the Aleuts into hunting the creatures for the fur trade. From there, the otter population dropped.
While Karana’s people hunted the otters as well, she later decides to never kill another after befriending one.

9. Cultural Aspects
The Russian talked the Aleuts into hunting hundreds of sea otters, sometimes leaving seriously injured creatures behind and making the water red with the blood.
The tribe normally hunted just enough to feed the tribe and used the skins and bones—not wasting any part of the animal.

10. Think About
How did Karan’s choices show her cultural beliefs regarding American Indians and the environment?
How were the white men at the end similar to the Russian?