SCOTT O'DELL, Author of ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS and Lover of Librarians (He was married to one!)

Scott O’Dell was born on May 23, 1898 in Los Angeles, Ca. While growing up, he traveled all around Southern California and was able to see and experience many different things. His family moved around a lot because his father was a railroad worker. When he was young, he loved being in the outdoors - especially swimming at the beach, where he could experience sea life.

Scott O’Dell attended several colleges:  Occidental College in 1919, the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1920, Stanford University from 1920-21, and the University of Rome in 1925. He only took classes that interested him and helped him in his writing career. As an adult he had several different jobs before he became a writer...he was a Hollywood cameraman (and even worked on the film Ben Hur!)... during WWII, he served in the Air Force...and at one time he was even a rancher.  O’Dell began writing both nonfiction and fiction books for adults in 1934. During the 1940s and 1950s he worked as a book columnist for the Los Angeles Mirror, as well as a book editor for the Los Angeles Daily News. He began writing children's books in the late 1950's.

"Married to children’s librarian Elizabeth O’Dell, who would be his lifelong supporter and first-reader for his books, Scott loved no group of people more than librarians—they read his books, they could tell him what children said, and they appreciated his stories. Although Island of the Blue Dolphins was published when Scott was in his sixties, he lived and wrote for another thirty years and crafted other superb novels: Zia; Black Star, Bright Dawn; The King’s Fifth; The Black Pearl. Always personally generous with the money from his books, Scott set up the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction to help other authors receive recognition for their efforts." - Anita Silvey

ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS (1961, Newbury Medal) Definitely in our Top-Ten-Family-Favorites, this book is based on the life of a real woman who lived alone on the island of San Nicolas, off the coast of California, from 1835 to 1853. She was named "Juana Maria" by a priest at the Santa Barbara Mission, who was with her when she died only seven weeks after she was rescued by George Nidever. She is buried in the S.B. Mission Cemetery.

This was the cover art on the edition we had.
I love the haunting expression on Karana's face.

We took our three children to the Santa Barbara Mission Cemetery, where
Juana Maria is buried, and saw this plaque dedicated to her memory.

A few more titles of his historical fiction for Young Adult readers:
The King's Fifth (1966, Newbury Honor)

The Black Pearl (1967, Newbury Honor)

Sing Down the Moon (1970, Newbury Honor)

and Black Star, Bright Dawn (1988)

DOWN BY THE BAY...

Cavallo Point

TRAVEL BLOG & CHILDREN'S BOOKS PART III:  Vacations don't have to end when you come home - thank goodness our memories let us travel back anytime we want to recall the fun sights, sounds, smells, and tastes we experienced!  I know my husband and I will re-visit in our minds quite often our recent get-away to Northern California - and we have lots of photos to help us...

After a few days in Mendocino (see my last two entries), we drove down to visit my sister and her family in Marin County (for those who aren't familiar with California, Marin is the area across the bay from San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge.)

The weather was perfect - sunny, a slight breeze, and temperatures in the high 70's...great for hiking the coastal forest trails in China Camp State Park.  Even my young niece and nephew were able to handle the hike we made, switching back and forth up the hills, until we reached a wooden bridge (our destination and signal to turn around).

We enjoyed beautiful vistas of San Pablo Bay, seen through the Live Oak and Manzanita trees...

After a fun afternoon of hiking, my creative Travel-Planner-Hostess-with-the-Mostess Sister had gotten tickets for an Angel Island Tiburon Ferry Sunset Cruise.   We packed a bottle of Sonoma wine to go with our picnic dinner from the awesome deli at Mollie Stone's in Saulsalito and headed off to the pier in Tiburon. 

Lots of families, and fun for all ages on this ferry boat that cruised past Angel Island and Belvedere Island and back to Tiburon for a delightful one and one-half hour tour!  It was cloudy, so we had to chase the sun, but we got a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge before the fog closed in!

GREAT PICTURE BOOKS ABOUT ISLANDS, BOATS, THE BAY, AND THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE!

The Little Island (Dell Picture Yearling), by Golden MacDonald (Margaret Wise Brown's pen name), illustrations by Leonard Weisgard. (ages 4-8)

Scuffy the Tugboat and His Adventures Down the River, by Gertrude Crampton, illustrations by Tibor Gergely (ages 4-8).

Pop's Bridge, by Eve Bunting, C.F. Payne, illustrator. (ages 4-8)

City by the Bay: A Magical Journey Around San Francisco, by Tricia Brown with illustrations by Elisa Kleven. (ages 4-8)
 

Sam, Bangs & Moonshine, by Evaline Ness. (ages 4-8)

MORE BOOKS ABOUT THE SEA (from a past blog post)

Keeping warm with the Captain!