Episode 45: Island of the Blue Dolphins

Island of the Blue Dolphins

It’s Episode 45 and about time that we take a journey to the Island of the Blue Dolphins — AKA a small island off the coast of California where a woman actually survived alone for eighteen years alone in the nineteenth century. This woman’s incredible story inspired Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins, a book written in 1960 that won the Newbery Medal in 1961 and has continued to be a favorite for so many in the decades since. It’s certainly not without its problems — and we talk about those! — but we also discuss the pure badassery that is main character Karana.

Thanks to Perrin Brown for joining as a guest on this episode and sharing her thoughts on the book from the perspective of intersectional feminism. Follow her on Instagram @feministscript and @celiacqueen.

LISTEN TO THE BAD ON PAPER PODCAST HERE.

CHECK OUT OUR LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE EPISODE HERE.

CHECK OUT PERRIN’S BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

Small Great Things: A Novel by Jodi Picoult

MORE READING:

“15 Facts About Island of the Blue Dolphins” (Mental Floss, 2017)

“How the true story behind Island of the Blue Dolphins is being kept alive” (Ventura County Star, 2019)

“What Archaeologists and Historians Are Finding About the Heroine of a Beloved Young Adult Novel” (Smithsonian, 2017)

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