He wrote 26 novels for young readers, along with three adult novels and four nonfiction works. For his children's work, he received the Hans Christian Andersen Award, The University of Southern Mississippi Medallion, and the Catholic Libraries Association Regina Medal.
O'Dell's best known work is the historical novel
Island Of the Blue Dolphins, which won the 1961 Newbery Medal, the 1963 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (for the German translation), and was named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list. He was one of the annual Newbery runners-up for three other books:
The King's Fifth,
The Black Pearl, and
Sing Down the Moon.
