Island of the Blue Dolphin By Scott O Dell Level W Page Summary Questions Comprehension Strategies Vocabulary 1-19 Chapter 1 Karana and Ramo, 12, her smaller brother, were digging roots by Coral Cove when Karana notices a red ship far off. She doesn t tell her brother because she doesn t want him to get as foolish as a cricket. Her brother noticed it too thinking at first that it is a red whale, but then calling it a big, red, canoe. Ramo throws his roots and begins shouting and he runs through the bushes. Karana stays and fills her basket because she knows the village needs them. The Aleut ship drops anchor and a boat containing 6 men and Cpt. Orlov row ashore. The Russian captain is met by and talks with Karana s father, Chief Chowig. The captain wants to hunt sea otters giving 1 to the village for every 2 he keeps, but Chowig declines. Orlov assures Chowig that he will not be like Cpt. Mitriff who made the tribe do all the hunting for many moons and then kept everything for himself. They finally settle on equal parts. Karana accidentally knocks a rock down the cliff from where she is watching that lands at the captains feet. She runs off. Chapter 2 The hunters moved onto higher ground on the island due to flooding. The island is 2 leagues long and 1 league wide. The middle of the island has a hill that looks like a dolphin lying on it s side. There are also many dolphins around the island. The hills are smooth and the trees small because of the wind. Ghalas-at is east of the hills on a mesa. Aleuts put up camp ½ league north by a spring. No one was allowed to visit the camp. Befriending the hunters is forbidden. Someone is always to watch the hunters and the hunters watching the tribe. White bass had been chased into the cove by killer-whales and were beached. The tribe took the fish. The hunters wanted some, but the tribe wouldn t share. Chapter 3 The Aleuts hunted early morning through early evening. They skinned the sea otters and left the carcasses on the beach, turning the water red. Karana was saddened, telling her dad she Chapter 1 Do the kids have parents? Why are they on the island? Why didn t she tell her brother about the boat she saw? How does the author develop the characters? Chapter 2 Will the hunters cause any trouble? How did the island get it s name? Chapter 3 Would the tribe get their fair share of otters? Will there be a fight over the Chapter 1 Imagery: The ship was a shell afloat on the sea; a gull with folded wings (1) The sea is a flat stone without scratches (2) Chapter 2 Mapping the island Predicting at the end of the chapter Chapter 1 cormorants (2) toyon bushes(5) parley (5) Aleut(1) Chapter 2 League (9) Chapter 3 Pelt (18)
only counted 10 sea otters left. The hunters kept moving and were going to kill all of the otters. Dad said nothing. The tribe was worried the hunters would leave without giving their share. 20-43 Chapter 4 The hunters packed up and tried to leave. The men from the tribe met them on the beach to collect 50 of the 100 pelts. The captain offered beaded jewelry then added spearheads to the trade instead of giving them pelts. One string and one spearhead traded for one pelt. The chief agreed, but wanted the other jewelry before they could leave the island. A fight broke out. Karana s father died. All of the men were injured. The fight finally ended when a storm broke out. Chapter 5 The tribe and 42 men before the fight and 15 after 7 of these being old men too old to fight. The storm lasted 2 days. The dead were buried on the third day. The dead Aleuts were burned. Some people wanted to leave the island. Everyone only went out to get food and then ate in silence. Kimki was finally named new chief, he was old, but a good man. Women now had to do men s work for all to survive. Karana had to collect abalones and Ramo had to keep them safe. The pet dogs joined the wild pack and became very vicious. The tribe began to fair better than when the men hunted. The woman worked really hard. The tribe was in discord because the men didn t like the women hunting. When they had enough food, Kimki let the women go back to harvesting. Everyone missed those who had died. This left uneasiness in the tribe. Karana had to take care of Ulape and Ramo since their dad had died. Their mom had died earlier. In the Spring, Kimki left to find a different place for everyone to live, since they were all still so saddened. Chapter 6 Kimki didn t return during the spring. Matasaip took Kimki s place. When hunting season came again everyone was worried the Aleuts would return. The tribe decided to run away by canoe if the hunters came back. Nanko spotted a ship and everyone was ready to run. They realized the ship was smaller otter pelts? What was the puff of white smoke from the ship? How did the fight end? Where will the tribe go? Did Kimki really send the ship? Imagery: a whirring sound like a great bird in flight passed above our heads (25) cries louder than the wind (25) abalones (28) tunas (29) awl (38)
and had white instead of red sails. The ship came from the place Kimki went. It was here to take everyone away. Chapter 7 Everyone packed and headed for the ship. Ulape put blue marks on her nose and cheek before she left to show she was unmarried. She like Nanko. Everyone got into the long boats and then onto the ship. Karana looked for Ramo, but couldn t find him. He was standing on a cliff back on the island because he had forgotten his fishing spear. The ship wouldn t go back because a storm was beginning. Karana jumped in the water, dropping her basket and swam back to the beach. Hugging Ramo she promised him the ship would return soon. 44-62 Chapter 8 They took shelter in the rocks over night. When the returned to the village the dogs had eaten almost everything. They built a fire and ate gull eggs and fish. The dogs came every night and left every morning for the cave on the north side of the island. Ramo is happy to be on the island with his sister. He wants to take his father s place as chief of the tribe. Karana tells him he will have to go through the manhood rituals first and be tied to a red-ant nest. Ramo wants a new name as chief - Chief Tanyositlopai. He got up early in the morning headed to get a canoe. Karana is worried he will get hurt since he is so small. She goes after him to Coral Cove. She doesn t find him after looking a long while. She finally finds him encircled by wild dogs with a deep cut in his throat and other wounds from the dogs. Karana knows he is dead. She takes her brother back to the village then chases the dogs back to their cave. She thinks about killing all of the dogs, but mostly, she thinks about Ramo. Chapter 9 Karana stayed in the village for many days, then decided to burn it down and live west of Coral Cove. She found a rock to sleep on and went in search of weapons. It was forbidden for women to make weapons. She found none in the canoes, but went searching for the black chest of spearheads and necklaces left on the beach after the battle. She finds the chest buried in the sand. Would the ship every come back for them? Will they be safe on the island alone? How will they survive? Will the dogs cause more trouble? Will the ship return? Will Karana be okay by herself? Will the red or white sailed boat come back? Do you think you could survive through Karana s trials if you were her? Sea-elephants (46)
She finds necklaces and wears them long enough to remember the battle and the original owners. The jewels are thrown into the sea. There are no spearheads so she buries the chest again. She goes to sleep and wakes to hear the wild pack of dogs howling under her rock. Still afraid to make weapons she finally decides it s necessary for survival. She makes a bow and arrow and a spear with great difficulty. She waits patiently to hunt the dogs that had killed Ramo. 63-84 Chapter 10 Karana is feeling lonely, realizing that the summer has come and gone and no one has come for her. She has moved her home off the rock because of the winds and storms. Karana decides she wants to head to the land east. She outfits one of the small canoes and sets sail. She sails until she can t see the island and then follows the first star that comes into the sky. She then finds a leak in the boat, but fixes it with her dress. The sunrises and Karana realizes the leak is bad enough to have to turn back. She makes good time. The leak doesn t get worse (Good fortune #2) and she sees a swarm of dolphins (good fortune #2). They stayed with her until the sun set. She reaches the island and falls asleep on the shore. Chapter 11 Karana decides she wants to stay on the island and make it her home. She finds one spot, close to the dogs lair. The seaelephants were also close and very noisy. She decides to build a fence to keep the dogs and foxes away. Chapter 12 She remembers two whales washing up onto shore a few years ago. She finds whale ribs and fence posts and weaves kelp between to pull it tight. The ribs stand taller than her. She then tells a legend of Tumaiyowit and Mukat gods as she is looking for trees to build her house with. Tumaiyowit gets angry one day and goes to the world below the world and that s why people die. In that day trees were tall. She makes half the house through the winter. The dogs and foxes are kept out. She shoots 2 of them. She finds ways to cook and keep fire in her hut. She finishes her house then What were Karana s good fortunes? Can Karana kill a bull seaelephant? What things has Karana done to make her life easier? How has Karana prepared for the future? It seemed like a great fish sunning itself (74) sinews (59) lair (61) crevices (61)
decides to kill all of the dogs. She begins to find supplies for making heavier weapons. The bow and arrow she makes works better than the last. She wants to kill a bull sea-elephant for it s tusk to make a spear. 85-105 Chapter 13 Karana goes to the place of the sea-elephant looking to kill a bull. There are 6 with one of them being a young bull. She went to kill the young bull wit h her bow, when her turned and got into a brawl with an older bull. Karana thought at one point they were coming to attack her and she fell backward injuring herself. She left the fight, hearing bellows all the way home. Chapter 14 Her leg swelled and she stayed home for 5 days finally having to leave for water. She crawled on the ground, being followed by dogs. The dogs surrounded her so she hid in a cave for 6 more days until her leg felt better. She decided to make the cave a 2 nd home. Her ancestors had used it so it had animals carved out of the stone walls and two big basins at the front. She returned to her other house and found the old bull decaying on the shore. She took the tusks and made 4 more spears. Then she made two more spears. She was now ready to go after the dogs. Chapter 15 There had been wild dogs on the island since she can remember. The tribe was going to get rid of the dogs, but they were temporarily distracted when the Aleuts came. The pack had grown larger. She hadn t seen the leader until the Aleuts had come and gone. The leader was much bigger, gray with yellow eyes. The pack had grown bigger. She went to the cave and set fire and the opening. When the fire died some came out. She killed 2 and wounded the leader in the chest with an arrow. After tracking the leader she couldn t find him, but found the part of her arrow that had been gnawed out of his chest. She tracked him again the following day and found him sitting. She took him for dead, until he raised his head. She went to shoot him with an arrow, but he never moved. Instead, she Which animal wins the brawl? Is Karana s injury serious? What was the sharp pain in her leg? Will the dog turn and attack her? Do you think she is happy the dog has stayed? His skin is rough and looks like wet earth that has dried in the sun (86). ravine (93)
approached him, picking him up in her arms and carrying him home. She treats his wounds, feeds and waters him. After nursing him back to health, she names him, Rontu. This meant Fox Eyes. 106-120 Chapter 16 Karana decides to work on the canoe since the ships have not returned. She shortens one canoe so she can more easily move it. Rontu keeps her company. She talks to him. After finishing the canoe she sets off on a journey around the island, exploring the caves. One of the caves located below her house had a shelf to store her canoe. There she and Rontu found a devilfish. It squirted ink and got away from them. She then decided she would make a special spear this winter to catch it. The flesh is white and sweet- the best in the ocean. She took her canoe to Coral Cave to keep it safe. Chapter 17 Karana makes a spear from the last sea-elephant tooth. She made this spear from memory, just like everything else. She made many errors before she got it correctly. She went hunting the devilfish the next morning, but not before letting Rontu out of the fence. He had been whining lately to go with the wild dogs. She was not able to catch a devilfish, but got some small bass. She also decided on the way back to the house not to build a trail from the cave to her house incase strangers came to the island. As she returned she heard dogs fighting. She followed the sound to a cliff, where the wild dog pack was surrounding Rontu. They had injured his leg. A new leader of the pack and a spotted dog Karana had never seen leaped at Rontu. Rontu broke the leaders leg, but took several minutes to wrestle the other dog to the ground as he was jaw-locked at his throat. Karana put an arrow in her bow, but did nothing. Rontu finally left the spotted dog, howeled and returned home. He never left again. The dogs then split into two groups. 121-142 Chapter 18 The summer came and some birds made a nest. She helped feed How does Karana get her ideas to make things on the island? How does she know it was spring? How does she know how to make weapons, even though she had never made them before? Inference: Why would Rontu leave one day to attack the dogs? devilfish (112) shaft (114) yucca (121) lupines (121)
the babies and then kept them in a cage she made after the birds had all left for the season. The next summer they were so big they didn t fit in the cage so she clipped their wings until they were trained to stay with here. She named the larger one Tainor, the other, Lurai. She makes another yucca skirt and sandals. She has grown her hair longer and walks along the beach with flowers in her hair. Rontu walks with her wearing a wreath of flowers. Chapter 19 She continues to look for the giant devilfish with no luck. She gathers the red abalone instead since it is the sweetest. Karana watches as the starfish try to pry the abalognes shells apart. It takes days. She made string from sinew and a hook from abalone shell to go fishing. She caught the fish with the sharp teeth and big heads. As she was collecting sea urchins for dying she saw the same giant devilfish she had been looking for. She threw the spear and thought she missed, but she got him. She struggled for a long while where in many instances she was sure he had gotten away. She finally pulled him up onto the shore where 3 or the arms wrapped around Rontu s neck as he gnawed another arm off. She then dropped the string she had been pulling and stabbed him with the knife she had tied around her waste. The arms whipped her legs and face. It eventually died and she got home after dark with many bruises. Rontu had a gash on his nose from the monster s beak. She saw 2 more devilfish that summer, but didn t try to hunt them. Chapter 20 Karana continued collecting food for the winter seeds and roots too. She collected 2 canoes full of mostly red abalones. The abalone was dried. After she finished collecting she went about exploring the caves. She followed a hawk to Black cove. There she went through a series of small and larger caves. A deep ledge on the last cave had 2 dozen figures as tall as Karana made from reeds. Their clothes were made of feathers and their eyes, abalone shells. In the middle was seated a skeleton holding a flute. She wanted to see more, but the tide came in so she slept in her canoe - afraid. How does she go fishing? Compare and contrast it tot the way we fish now. How do starfish eat the abalogne? Why do the gulls drop the scallops on the rocks? How did she keep the gulls from stealing her abalones? Who is on the ship? Why would she bury the ashes of her fire? Scallops fell on the reef like rain (127) hummers (121) faggot(124)
In the morning she named it Black Cave and swore she would never return. Everyday she would look for the boats. Finally, one day she saw a ship in the distance. She began to gather her things and head to the cave. When she went to look for the ship again it was much closer. It had one white sail and two red ones. All night she moved her things to the cave. In the morning she buried the ashes from the fire. Walking back to the cave she saw the canoes bringing supplies and a girl sitting on the shore by a fire. They had begun to hunt otters. 143-161 Chapter 21 Karana only went out at night now to gather food. She was careful to cover her tracks. She spent her time sewing another skirt of feathers. One day the girl from the beach saw her. She petted Rontu and tried to talk to Karana. Karana grabbed her spear and aimed, but didn t throw it. The girl, Tutok took Karana s skirts and said, Wintscha. They never understood each other. Karana packed her things that night to head to the east part of the island. Karana did not trust her or the hunters. She moved 3 of her baskets and went back for 2 more. She could tell someone had been in her cave so she did not go in. She did find a necklace with black stones at the opening of the cave, but didn t take it. Chapter 22 In the morning Karana waited to see if the girl would return. She did and as she left Karana called out to her. Karana put on the necklace. They then traded names of things all through the day. She then gave her name, not her secret name to the girl, which means, girl with long dark hair. The girl left. She came back many other days and they traded words. Finally, Karana wanted to make a gift for Tutok so she made her a shell circlet for her hair. The girl loved it. Then a few days later the girl didn t come back. Karana was afraid the Aleuts had left. The first winter winds had come. The ship finally left and Karana was sad she had lost her friend. Chapter 23 After the Aleut had left, they left many wounded sea otters. She Karana said the island seemed very quiet without Tutok? What did she mean? circlet (154)
killed some to put them out of their misery. One baby she found, she nursed back to health in a pool, bringing it fish. One day when she couldn t catch fish she did not go to the otter. Three days later he was gone. She had named him Mon-a-nee, which meant, Boy with Large Eyes. Everything she had stored for the winter was now gone so she had to live from day to day. She had no light since she hadn t dried and little fish. She also found 2 black stones to match her necklage. She made herself earrings. She wore her comorant skirt, necklace and earrings on sunny days. 162-182 Chapter 24 Spring came and the birds came back. Her birds had 2 babies that she kept as pets. She found an injured baby gull, splinted his broken leg and kept him. She thinks about her sister and the possibility of all f her children. Karana smiles thinking about how different her children are from the ones she thought she would have. Later she saw otters playing. One broke from the group following her. She knew it was Mon-a-nee. He snatched a fish from her. She saw him days later with 2 pups learning to swim. She realizes he is really a girl and renames the otter Won-a-nee. She then decides to never kill any otters or even any animals again. Chapter 25 The Aleuts never returned. A few years later she stopped keeping track of the moons, then of the seasons. Rontu died late that summer. She buried him at the headland and put a stick he like to chase on top with colorful pebbles from the beach. Chapter 26 Karana makes snares to try and catch Rontu s son. She wasn t successful. She did catch a little red fox. She kept her for a while, but she would always steal the food. To snare the dogs, she tried dumping two different types of drugs into the spring to catch the wild dogs (toluache weed/xuchal). Finally, she caught the one she wanted and named him Rontu-Aru. He quickly befriended her. Chapter 27 What does Karana mean when she talks about her children? Have you ever lost a pet? How did you feel? Do you think she will try to get a new pet dog? Personification: It sent long tongues streaming around me (179) The earth seemed to be holding its breathe (181) It lay against the island as if it were very tired. (181)
Later on a very hot day she fell asleep on the beach. She awoke to a grumble. Looking around she noticed the tide was so low that fish had been beached and the coral reefs were exposed. The sand began to shudder and huge waves came crashing in. When the waves stopped at dusk, she crawled down and slept at the bottom of the cliff. In the morning everything was quiet. Two young whales were beached, crab and fish were scattered everywhere. At dusk the earth began to move and ripple. It trembled though out the night and was finally still in the morning. 183-195 Chapter 28 The earthquake and damaged everything. She scavenged for the wrecked canoes and rebuilt one. As she was softening pitch to seal it, she saw a ship in the distance, half-way between the horizon and the shore. It did not look like the white-man s or Aleut s ship. Two man came ashore. They saw her fire and canoe and yelled to her. She didn t respond. Then she went looking for them yelling and they had already returned to the ship. It had set sail. Chapter 29 The ship returned again after 2 more springs. She let the men find her. She dressed up in her skirt and earrings. One of the men sat all day on a rock making her a blue dress. She pretended to like it, but thought it was too hot and ugly. Once she got to Mission Santa Barbara, she learned from Father Gonzales that the ship holding her people had sunk. This is why they never returned for her. What do you think happened to her after she got off the island? Do you think she ever returned? The earth rose and fell like a great animal breathing. (182) Inference: What do you think will happen next? Map the island and label significant events.