Realistic Fiction – Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

Karana is a girl left behind by Indians who had once lived on an island called San Nicolas, where blue dolphins played in the water, sea otters can be found in the kelp, and seabirds roost. Karana waits year after year for the ship to come back from the east, but it never comes for her. She finally realizes that she must attempt to follower her people or remain alone on the island for the rest of her life (O’Dell, 1988).  Scott O’Dell is known for other books like Black Pearl, Streams and River to the Sea, and Black Star Bright Dawn.

This story is beautifully written, full of wonderful visual wording, allowing the reader to really capture Karana and themselves in this story. The story falls into the genre of realistic fiction because it is written about real places, a real time, and the circumstances surrounding the story could be real. As with a distinctive type of realistic fiction, one that is popular is adventure and survival stories, which Island of the Blue Dolphins fits into, as it is a survival story. It is marked by a fast pace plot, adventure, and conflict between Karana and nature, which allows captivation of the reader (Galda, Cullinan, & Sipe, 2010, p. 240).

The story is a prime example of quality in realistic fiction as it “…exemplifies characteristics of excellence in narrative fiction” (Galda, Cullinan, & Sipe, 2010, p. 235), it provides a realistic setting that supports events, the characters are multidimensional, changing over time, the problems she faces are realistic and believable while remaining thematic in nature. Karana’s thoughts are natural sounding as well.

Questions that I would ask the students would be, “What would you do if you were stranded on an island like Karana?” “How do you think she will survive?” “Where do you think her family went?” All of these questions would assist in developing the story and helping them to really connect with the main character. Response –centered projects would be a great way for the readers to really connect with this realistic fiction story. The first would be a present for a character, where they could give Karana a present, developing it in 3D, and writing an essay why the present would be useful or special to her. Second, I would have them create a family tree for Karana, as she longs to be reunited with her family, so the family tree could provide a link to those who left her behind. The students would need to write an essay about each individual they added to the tree and why they are important (Galda, Cullinan, & Sipe, 2010, p. 351).

I believe this book would be a fantastic read, especially for little girls, as it is an in-depth look at a young girl who is abandoned and needs to survive in the wilderness, surrounded by the sea, animals, and other hazards. I would recommend it to all young readers that enjoy survival stories.

References

Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature and the Child. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cenage Learning.

O'Dell, S. (1988). Island of the Blue Dolphins. New York: Sandpiper, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.