The Cay

The Cay

By Theodore Taylor

53 ratings 71 reviews 84 followers
Interest LevelReading LevelReading A-ZATOSWord Count
Grades 4 - 8Grades 4 - 8V5.326145
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
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ISBN-13: 9780385079068
ISBN-10: 0385079060
Published on 12/17/1987
Binding: Hardcover
Number of pages: 160

Book Reviews (68)

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This is probably the best book I've ever read. Its about a kid that lives on a island then the island gets attacked so him and his mom decide to leave the island and then in the night the boat got torpedoed and he found himself on a life bout with this random guy. The kid went blind so he was stuck alone in the sea blind with this guy that he had only seen once.

This is a great book. We read it in my reading class. When i first start reading this book all I can think is BORING, but when you start to get into the book, a great plot emerges and the character really show who they really are. This book is full of twists and turns, close calls, and crazy things that you can't find anywhere else but, THE CAY.

exactly what my thoughts were!

A very touching book I read in 6th Grade. :)

I had to read this book for a grade. At first i did not like it but the I loved it I highly support this book Read this book.

i actually liked this book, even though alot of it was homework

The ending was amazing because it wasn't exspected

just finished this book! had to read it for school really sad but a great story!

i just finished this book! had to read it for school it was really sad but a great story i like how timothy talks!lol

it is a realy good book

Lol, I'm reading this in school too!

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