The Cay
Theodore Taylor
Paperback
(Yearling, May 28, 2002)
For fans of Hatchet and Island of the Blue Dolphins comes Theodore Taylorâs 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 heâs eager to glimpse it firsthandâuntil 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 motherâs warning about black people: âThey are different, and they live differently.â But by the time the castaways arrive on a small island, Phillipâs head injury has made him blind and dependent on Timothy.âMr. Taylor has provided an exciting storyâŚThe idea that all humanity would benefit from this special form of color blindness permeates the whole bookâŚThe result is a story with a high ethical purpose but no sermon.ââNew York Times Book Review âA taut tightly compressed story of endurance and revelationâŚAt once barbed and tender, tense and fragileâas Timothy would say, âoutrageous good.âââKirkus Reviews * âFully realized settingâŚartful, unobtrusive use of dialectâŚthe representation of a hauntingly deep love, the poignancy of which is rarely achieved in childrenâs literature.ââSchool Library Journal, Starred âStarkly dramatic, believable and compelling.ââSaturday Review âA tense and moving experience in reading.ââPublishers Weekly âEloquently underscores the intrinsic brotherhood of man.ââBooklist "This is one of the best survival stories since Robinson Crusoe."âThe 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 Childrenâs Book to Remember ¡ A Child Study Associationâs Pick of Childrenâs 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
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