The Cay [Mass Market Paperback]

Theodore Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1970

Blinded and shipwrecked on a tropical island, Phillip overcomes his prejudices and comes to deeply respect the illiterate yet remarkable black sailor who rescues him, and learns to survive on his own despite his blindness. Reissue. AB.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This award-winning novel remains a powerful classic of prejudice, love, and survival. In 1942, 11-year-old Phillip Enright lives with his parents on the Dutch island of Curaçao, but when the war moves too close for comfort, his mother decides to travel with him back to the safety of Virginia. When their boat is torpedoed, however, Phillip is blinded and finds himself adrift on a life raft with an old black man and a cat. They eventually land on a deserted island. Phillip is suspicious of "the large Negro," but soon grows to trust--and ultimately love--the patient and generous Timothy. Dedicated to "Dr. King's Dream," The Cay has a clear message that friendship is colorblind; it is also a terrific adventure story of a young, newly blinded man learning to survive on an uninhabited island. (Ages 12 and older) --Richard Farr --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"A totally absorbing story...starkly dramatic, believable and compelling." -- -- Saturday Review

"Innocence vs. wisdom, black vs. white, growing up and surviving...forcefully portrayed." -- -- Library Journal

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Avon Books (1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380010038
• ISBN-13: 978-0380010035
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (623 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,284,694 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This novel should have won the Newbery Medal., August 13, 2000

By 

Lisa Ebeling "laa-laa" (smalltown, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cay (Hardcover)

CHARACTERS: Phillip Enright, 11, American citizen living with his parents on Curacao; Timothy, an elderly black West Indian deckhand; and Stew Cat, a tomcat shipwrecked along with them.

SUMMARY: In February 1942 the Germans attack an oil refinery on Aruba, neighboring island of Curacao, Dutch island off the Venezuelan coast. Young Phillip is living in Willemstad, Curacao, with his parents, but after the attack his mother wants to return to America. Phillip and Father are against the plan, but eventually Mother gets her way.

Just days out to sea, the Germans torpedo the Dutch freighter Phillip and his mother have boarded to flee Curacao. The ship breaks up and sinks; mother and son are separated. Mrs. Enright's fate is unknown, but Phillip is hauled onto a lifeboat by a very old black West Indian who'd been a crewmember on board the "Hato." The only other occupant of the lifeboat is an old cat named Stew Cat; the three are adrift on the open sea for days with only a keg of water, some matches and a few crackers.

Phillip was struck on the head when the "Hato" was sunk, and he has a splitting headache and concussion. After two days on the raft with Timothy and Stew Cat, he goes completely blind. On the third day at sea a plane flies overhead and Timothy signals for help with a torch, but they are not seen.

Timothy, Phillip and the cat make it to a small island that the old Negro, an old sea-hand, figures must be in the Devil's Mouth. Phillips initial reaction to Timothy is one of revulsion; he finds the big black man ugly and frightening. His mother's prejudice against blacks is a factor in his attitude, but Phillip eventually overcomes it and they truly become friends.

When they first land on the island, Phillip feigns helplessness, refusing all labor. Timothy encourages the boy and teaches him to make things they'll need. When the boy gathers the courage to climb a coconut palm, he stops feeling sorry for himself and decides to do as much as he can. He is no longer a helpless blind boy. Timothy begins teaching Phillip survival skills--without telling the boy that he is preparing him for survival on the island after the old man dies.

In July with a terrible hurricane brewing, Timothy makes preparations for it, including lashing their water tank, matches and knife high on the trunk of a palm tree. They survive the first part of the storm and rest while the hurricane's eye is over them. Then they again lash themselves to the tree again to wait out the storm. After the hurricane, Phillip finds that Timothy has borne the brunt of the storm to protect him; the big West Indian's back is flayed open by sand and things driven by the high winds, and Phillip can't stop Timothy's bleeding. The old man dies. Stew Cat, who was missing after the fierce storm, reappears.

Initially the boy feels anger in response to the man's death, but gradually realizes how much Timothy did to prepare him for life alone. In addition to teaching Phillip to get around the cay without assistance, Timothy left a dozen fishing poles lashed to another palm trunk and had taught Phillip as much as he himself knew about survival.

Phillip has to bury Timothy, construct a new hut, prepare another signal fire on the beach and a "HELP" message of stones, build a new rainwater catchment, clean the camp of debris, restart his campfire, and search for anything useful the hurricane might have deposited on the cay. At first the amount of work to be done seems overwhelming, but Phillip approaches the situation calmly, rationally, and with intensity.

Phillip's first signal fire goes unnoticed, so he determines something oily will make a black smoke visible from a distance. On August 20, 1942 what he thinks is thunder is really a destroyer, so he throws oily sea grape leaves on the signal fire, which emits black smoke visible to rescuers.

The deeply-suntanned boy could've been mistaken for a native fisherman, but the captain of an American destroyer hunting German submarines has the boy and Stew Cat picked up. The captain can't believe Phillip could've drifted so far from where the "Hato" was sunk, and he's most astonished to have found a naked blind boy and a cat on a deserted island in the Caribbean.

Phillip's put ashore in Panama for medical treatment and his parents are flown in from Curacao. They can't absorb all that their son has to tell them of his time on the cay. Four months after his rescue Phillip has three surgeries to restore his eyesight. The following April, a year after the shipwreck, he returns to Willemstad with his parents.

IMPRESSIONS: Beyond the obvious but meaningful theme of overcoming racial prejudices, this is a powerful story about growing up, becoming independent despite physical disability, and about strength and self-reliance beyond the levels required of most human beings--let alone a child. "THE CAY" is a most interesting, believable and memorable book. I'm glad to have read it.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of The Cay, April 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cay (Mass Market Paperback)

The Cay tells the story of a boy named Phillip and his unsuspecting friendship with a black man, Timothy. The war and the German submarines have come to Phillip's part of the Caribbean, and Phillip's mother fears for their safety. Phillip's dad must stay behind for his job, but Phillip and his mother board a ship that will take them back to Virginia where they originally lived. Two days after being on the ship, the ship is torpedoed and during the evacuation, Phillip is separated from his mother. Phillip awakens to find himself on a raft with Timothy and a cat named Stew Cat. The three castaways finally reach a small cay where they must learn to live off the land in order to survive while they hope to be rescued. There are many conflicts in this book that the main characters must overcome. This book is not only a great survival story, but a touching story about overcoming prejudices and seeing a person for whom they really are.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For English Class we had to read The Cay and do essays on it, March 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cay (Mass Market Paperback)

I am in sixth grade now and our english teacher picked the book The Cay by Theadore Taylore to read as an assigned book. The Cay was the most recent assigned book we have read so we are still doing essays. Just by looking at the cover, this book look stupid to me. But when I read it, it was excellent. My teacher is always making us write essays for assigned books. The topics for our Cay essays were as followed: Phillip's immaturity changing to mature; Phillip's prejudice towards blacks and then accepting blacks; a newspaper article on the German & Dutch war; a brochure for presuading people to visit a Caribbean island; a newspaper article on the rescue of Phillip; and a couple others I can't think of. I mostly got A+ and A's on all of these essays. The only thing that brought the 10 rating down to a 9 is because it was hard to read when Timothy talked. But other wise I would give it a ten. I think that this book would be good for boys and girls ages 11+. I am 12 now so I would qulafy. I hope you will read this book. It is awesome!!!