Scott O'Dell

Scott O'Dell was born in 1898 on Terminal Island in Los Angeles, California. His birth name was O'Dell Gabriel Scott; when a publisher printed his name as Scott O'Dell by mistake, he kept it. He attended several colleges, including Stanford University and the University of Rome. He worked as a cameraman and technical director in films, and later as a newspaper book editor. He wrote articles and books for adults, and in World War II he served in the Army Air Forces. In the 1950s, living in the old gold-rush town of Julian, California, he began writing for children. His first children's book, Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960), tells of Karana, a girl who survives alone for years on an island off the California coast, and is based on a true story. It won the Newbery Medal in 1961. The King's Fifth, The Black Pearl and Sing Down the Moon were later Newbery runners-up. In 1972 he received the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and in 1984 he founded the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. He died in 1989, aged 91.

Scott O'Dell is also an author in the library: author page and works.

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