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 book was very interesting to read. It had a good meaning. Where a young American boy had to stay on a cay (island) with an African-American wise guy. The reason why I would rate this book 3 stars is because the book was interesting and left me wanting to read more, but I didn't like how the book was against one color of someone.

The book was not something I would read for fun. It was OK, but it got boring at some times. I liked the ending though. It had a great touch and gave you some little details about what will happen in the next book.

Cbear Cbear

We are reading this book at school and its amazing I am going to recommend it.

This book is not only a great and an interesting read. But is has a true life lesson also. It displays a young boy, Phillip and an old but wise man of the opposite color named Timothy. It is truly a good and satisfying story. Theodore Taylor takes a plain and simple statement that we are all the same under the skin and illustrates it with a devastatingly simple story.

This was an exciting and thrilling book I read. It teaches a lesson to not judge people on the outside and listen to them in the inside! It had me on the edge of the seat every time I was reading a chapter. If you wanna know why I was on the edge of my seat you should read this book! Emotional, Happiness,Caring,and Heart Warming

this book is about a young boy and a Black man trying to survive on a cay. The black man is named timothy and the kid is named philip. Philip later becomes blind on the raft. They end-up having to survive a hurricane soon timothy dies. If you like learning about survival stuff you should read this book.

I really liked the thrill and twists. This book is very emotional and very realistic. I was sad when Timothy died, but that helped Philip become independent. I recommend this book to 5th-6th graders with a love for reading. 5 stars out of 5.

I liked it because it show the journey of a native american and a white person. And it about how Phillip (white person) and Timothy ( native american) are on a boat and it gets under attack. They end yp on a raft for a week and they have to survive on a cay. If you want more details you will have to read the cay. (I recommend it )

I liked this book a lot. This book inspired me that just because I hang out with the opposite skin color does't mean anything. This story focuses on a boy named Phillip Enright. He moves with his mom by a ship (The Hato) and it gets torpedoed. He meets this man named Timothy who is the opposite skin tone of Phillip. Timothy helps Phillip survive on a small cay. Timothy ends up dying by a hurricane. At the end of the book, Phillip regains his sight after going under 3 operations. I can relate to Phillip because he doesn't want to move away from his hometown that much.

The cay is sad, depressing, and boring. It's not bad, but it's not the best.

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