Originally published in 1960, Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins is a middle grade historical fiction/adventure novel. Karana, the protagonist and narrator, is only 12 when hunters land on her peaceful island home and kill many of her people, including her father. When the remaining villagers leave the island in search of a safe place to rebuild their lives, she stays behind and must learn to survive on her own. O’Dell drew inspiration from the true story of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas, who lived during the 1800s. The novel won a Newbery Medal and explores themes of survival, nature, and friendship.

This guide is based on the 50th Anniversary edition published by Clarion Books in 2010.

Content Warning: Island of the Blue Dolphins contains several deaths (including child death) and descriptions of dead and injured animals.

Plot Summary

Twelve-year-old Karana spies a ship belonging to the Aleuts, an Indigenous group from Alaska. Her father, Chief Chowig, gives the Aleuts permission to camp on their island. The Aleut hunters are led by a Russian man named Captain Orlov, who promises to give Chief Chowig and the villagers an even share of the hunt’s profits. When Captain Orlov and the hunters try to leave without giving the villagers a fair price, a battle breaks out, and many men from the village perish, including Karana’s father. The surviving villagers appoint an elder named Kimki as the new chief, and he journeys east in search of a place where their people can rebuild. Months later, Kimki sends white men to take the villagers to their new home. Karana boards the white men’s ship but then dives overboard when she sees that her younger brother, Ramo, was left behind.

On Karana and Ramo’s third day alone on the island, Ramo wanders off and is killed by wild dogs. Karana vows to slay the entire pack, moves to a new camp that is easier to defend, and begins crafting weapons. When several seasons pass without any sign of a ship, Karana attempts to journey east in a canoe and rejoin her people, but a leak forces her to turn back. After this attempt, Karana embraces the island as her home and builds a long-lasting shelter.

After Karana completes her new house, she devotes her energy to the eradication of the dogs that killed her brother and builds new weapons. She attempts to hunt a bull sea elephant so that she can use one of its tusks for a spearpoint, but injures her leg and has to retreat. Karana stays in her house for days due to her injury. When she ventures outside for water, the dogs pursue her and force her to take shelter in a cave near the spring. Once she recovers, Karana converts the cave into another dwelling. She then returns to the sea elephants’ home and makes spears from tusks she finds among the bones of an old bull sea elephant.

Armed with new weapons, Karana faces the pack of dogs. She shoots the pack’s leader with an arrow but later spares his life and nurses him back to health. She names the dog Rontu, and he grows to be her trusted friend. Karana repairs her canoe and discovers a large squid, which she calls a devilfish. One day, Karana goes to look for the giant devilfish and finds Rontu locked in a deadly battle with two other dogs upon her return. Rontu defeats both challengers, and the pack leaves him and Karana alone from then on. During a peaceful spring, Karana gains two more friends—a pair of scarlet-headed yellow birds. The following summer, Karana and Rontu kill the giant devilfish after a fierce struggle.

When an Aleut ship comes to the island, Karana makes her house look as if it were abandoned long ago and hides with Rontu in the cave near the spring. An Aleut girl named Tutok discovers Karana’s hiding place and gives her a necklace. Tutok also provides Karana human companionship for the first time in years, and Karana misses her greatly when the Aleuts sail away. Karana tends to a young otter that was wounded by the Aleut hunters, and endures a lonely winter after the animal goes back to the sea. In the spring, the otter returns with its young, and her friendship with the otter family inspires her to never kill another animal again.

Many years pass and time becomes indistinct for Karana—until Rontu passes away one summer. The following spring, she catches and befriends Rontu’s son, but even this friendship cannot alleviate her aching need for human companionship. Massive waves and an earthquake shake the island, destroying Karana’s canoe. As Karana builds a new canoe, a ship comes to the island. She decides to go to the vessel, but a storm drives it away before the men aboard see her. Two years later, the ship returns, and Karana accompanies the men east with her dog. Dolphins swim ahead of the ship, as if leading Karana toward her new home.