O’Dell, Scott. Illustrated by Ted Lewin. 1960. Island of the blue dolphins. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 

When twelve-year old Karana informed her tribe that a large boat was on the way to the island, she set in motion a series of events that would greatly affect her life. While Karana’s tribe was evacuating her island home, her younger brother became stranded on the island. Against the wishes of her family, Karana dove off of the boat and returned to the island to rescue him. Ramo was killed shortly thereafter by a pack of wild dogs, and Karana was forced to fend for herself while she awaited rescue. For eighteen years, Karana lived alone on the island, feeding herself, finding her own shelter and even learning to make weapons, a chore that was expressly forbidden the women of her tribe. Through great courage and strength, Karana overcomes loneliness and terror to learn self-sufficiency and serenity in O’Dell’s classic story set in the early 1800s. Readers of all ages and genders will continue to be inspired almost 200 years after the events in the story. The full-page watercolor illustrations by Lewin heighten the feeling of fear that Karana felt when her father confronted the Aleut and depict the serenity she found as she truly made the Island of the Blue Dolphins her home.