Island of the Blue Dolphins Board Game and Poster

This book won the coveted John Newbery Award
for excellence in children's literature.

Samantha created a board game for the just-read novel Island of the Blue Dolphins called "Happy History Happenings". The goal of this game is to voyage from the Island of the Blue Dolphins, now known as San Nicolas, to California 75 miles to the southeast.

The game is made with 100% recycled materials.

Players need to avoid conflicts like the Aleutian otter hunters and wild dogs. The game also has positive events like boats arriving and taming animals for pets.While trying to survive on the deserted island, players have to answer plot questions to move ahead. Samantha also wrote detailed game instructions for players to understand this game that combines history and literature.

The aerial view shows three game pieces for three players.
More players can be added by using more game pieces.
Unlimited fun for everyone!

Lauren created a poster depicting major events from this book and wrote the following description:

"Today I created my Island of the Blue Dolphins poster. I went to Michaels, a craft store, and picked up a miniature dog, Native Americans, a giant squid, a blue poster board, brown felt, and trees. First I started out by sculpting a large bag of clay into a long island. I made it into the shape of a dolphin so it could be related to the book. Next I stuck Karana on my island with her dog, Rontu. I also put trees, foxes, a fire, and a bow without the arrows lying by Karana. On the upper right corner of my poster board, I hot glued an orange and yellow giant squid facing the island. The lower part of the poster, I took brown felt and curved the edges when I cut a little piece of the felt. I stuck a tree and Karana’s family on the felt and wrote "California" in small letters by the brown felt.

            The Island of the Blue Dolphins won the Newberry Award in 1961 and was written by Scott O’Dell. I read this book at school with my sister and my teacher. The part that really affected me was the giant squid grabbing Rontu with its tentacles because I was anxious Rontu was going to die. That is why I put the giant squid on my poster. Another intense part of the book was when the tidal wave came and covered Karana. We even watched videos of tidal waves in Japan to get a visual of tidal waves. Overall I felt the book was exciting and breathtaking because I could not imagine surviving by myself on an island for eighteen years. This historical fiction novel was related to the book we read before, Hatchet, because the theme for both is survival." 

Poster and descriptive essay by Lauren.