The Cay

by Theodore Taylor

Overview

Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curaçao. War has always been a game to him, and he’s eager to glimpse it firsthand–until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on is torpedoed.

When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in the middle of the sea. Besides Stew Cat, his only companion is an old West Indian, Timothy. Phillip remembers his mother’s warning about black people: “They are different, and they live differently.”

But by the time the castaways arrive on a small island, Phillip’s head injury has made him blind and dependent on Timothy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780440416630
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	05/28/2002
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	63,867
Product dimensions:	5.13(w) x 7.63(h) x 0.42(d)
Lexile:	860L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

\Theodore Taylor has written several award-winning books. The Cay won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award and was also made into a movie.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Cay"
by .
Copyright © 2002 Theodore Taylor.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Children's Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

A totally absorbing story...starkly dramamtic, believable and compelling.

Saturday Review

Praise for The Cay:
 
“Mr. Taylor has provided an exciting story…The idea that all humanity would benefit from this special form of color blindness permeates the whole book…The result is a story with a high ethical purpose but no sermon.”—New York Times Book Review
 
“A taut tightly compressed story of endurance and revelation…At once barbed and tender, tense and fragile—as Timothy would say, ‘outrageous good.’”—Kirkus Reviews
 
* “Fully realized setting…artful, unobtrusive use of dialect…the representation of a hauntingly deep love, the poignancy of which is rarely achieved in children’s literature.”—School Library Journal, Starred
 
“Starkly dramatic, believable and compelling.”—Saturday Review
 
“A tense and moving experience in reading.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“Eloquently underscores the intrinsic brotherhood of man.”—Booklist
 
"This is one of the best survival stories since Robinson Crusoe."—The Washington Star

· A New York Times Best Book of the Year
· A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
· A Horn Book Honor Book
· An American Library Association Notable Book
· A Publishers Weekly Children’s Book to Remember
· A Child Study Association’s Pick of Children’s Books of the Year
· Jane Addams Book Award
· Lewis Carroll Shelf Award
· Commonwealth Club of California: Literature Award
· Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People Award
· Woodward School Annual Book Award
· Friends of the Library Award, University of California at Irvine

From the Publisher

High adventure, survival on a small cay in the Caribbean, and friendship between a boy and a man are the stuff of Theodore Taylor’s enduring tale. When their ship is torpedoed by a German submarine while leaving Curaçao, young Philip, a cat, and Timothy, a West Indian man, find their lives converging as they seek rescue. Michael Boatman is a fabulous narrator. His narration expresses both the urgency of learning a new way of life and the joy of new friendship. The lilting calypso intonation Boatman gives to Timothy--and his uniquely outrageous “wisdom”--transports the listener. An interview with the author provides insight into the story and completes the recording. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

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