Estes, Glenn E. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 52. Detroit: Gale Research, 1986. Contains a discussion of O'Dell's career with detailed descriptions and reviews of his young adult books.

Townsend, John Rowe. A Sense of Story: Essays on Contemporary Writers for Children. New York: Lippincott, 1971.

Includes a brief overview of O'Dell's early novels and an excerpt from an essay in which he discusses his aims as a writer for young people.

Wintle, Justin, and Emma Fisher. The Pied Pipers: Interviews with the Influential. Creators of Children's Literature.

New York: Paddington, 1974. Contains an interview with O'Dell about Sing Down the Moon and his other novels, his reasons for writing books for young people, and his views about the function of young adult literature in modern American society.