The Cay

Theodore Taylor

Sep 2011 · Sold by Laurel Leaf

4.5

294 reviews

Ebook

144

Pages

Eligible

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About this ebook

For fans of Hatchet and Island of the Blue Dolphins comes Theodore Taylor’s classic bestseller and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award winner, The Cay.
   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.

“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

Ratings and reviews

4.5

294 reviews

Luis Reyes Valdes

November 25, 2016

This book is very good its so inspirational and amusing. I liked the ending and how they saved him .It was sad too but an happy ending. I also have to give the author Theodore Taylor five stars because I think anyone who gives this book a chance would be very pleased with the ending. I'd like to tell you guys all about what I read but I'm afraid I'll ruin it for the people who are going to give this book a chance. I also can't wait to read the other books Theodore Taylor has written. Hope you guys read the book!

5 people found this review helpful

Briggs Akin

May 13, 2019

This book is so amazing it is basically a growing up story for young philp. Philp learns to get over the differences between timothy and him. He also learns how to survive on the cay.

Anthony Goodwin

May 23, 2013

I read this book for my virtual school. Normally, I don't like reading, but this one was interesting from the start. And no, timothy didnt have sex with Phillip

2 people found this review helpful

About the author

Theodore Taylor wrote several award-winning books, including The Cay, which won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award and was made into a movie. He began his writing career at the age of thirteen and continued on from there—books, articles, scripts—often several projects at once. He passed away in 2006 surrounded by his family, his books, and years of wonderful memories.

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