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The Cay
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The Cay
Unavailable
The Cay
Audiobook2 hours

The Cay

Written by Theodore Taylor

Narrated by Michael Boatman

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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.

· 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

LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 8, 2005
ISBN9781400099092
Unavailable
The Cay
Author

Theodore Taylor

THEODORE TAYLOR (1921-2006), an award-winning author of many books for young people, was particularly known for fast-paced, exciting adventure novels. His books include the bestseller The Cay, Timothy of the Cay, The Bomb, Air Raid--Pearl Harbor!, Ice Drift, The Maldonado Miracle, and The Weirdo, an Edgar Award winner for Best Young Adult Mystery.

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Reviews for The Cay

Rating: 3.878968373015873 out of 5 stars
4/5

504 ratings41 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    (Original Review, 1981-02-15)I have some sympathy with some people in the sense that it is disappointing to re-read a cherished childhood book and have these once-unquestioned prejudices jump off the page. Quite disconcerting. However, when we were ourselves children, it was water off a duck's back. We were reading for the story, not the attitudes.Of course we do not want to perpetuate racism or stereotypes. But our history is our history. And sometimes we have to face it, even in forms that were once considered benign. Why the books were published in the first place and what this says about the prevailing society is a question worth asking, however. That discussion is what can make them pertinent.I still vividly recall one favorite book with absolutely brilliant illustrations done by the author. In the era of my childhood, it was wonderful to read about the friendship between a white American kid and and a black man. It was one of those battered-spine books even then. The stereotypes now so obvious to me were not on my screen when I was ten, mostly because I longed for adventures and a friend like that. It was a book that took me to another world. In other words, despite what I now see as cringe-worthy aspects of the story, the abiding lesson I drew in childhood was that friends come from unexpected places, from across cultures, and from across races. Not a bad place to start.When I was ten I was blazing through Tolkien, Lewis, and Lloyd Alexander; for me they were not only stomping great stories. I also drew massive, permanent lessons from them about strength of character, perseverance, good and evil. In those old pre-Internet days at age ten I'd no idea that Tolkien and Lewis knew each other, no idea of any religious undertones or subtleties. When I re-read them now through my prism of a long life lived, I still thoroughly enjoy them while being much more aware. It's a different experience - that is not to say a negative one, but an additional one. Childhood reading is like hearing a great song for the very first time. It's free, exuberant, entirely unfettered. I too understand the dismay expressed by some modern readers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Considering that I absolutely hated this book as a child, I can't say for certain what compelled me to pick it up again after all of these years. Perhaps I wanted to see if I still felt the way 10-year-old me had felt when she first read it. But regardless of what forces drew me towards this book, I can say without a doubt that 10-year-old me had it so wrong.After Nazis torpedo and sink their ship, Phillip, a young white boy, and Timothy, an older black man from the West Indies, find themselves stranded on a small, uncharted cay together. They, alongside their furry companion, Stew Cat, must learn to lean on one another if they hope to survive long enough to be saved...if they are saved at all.What seems like a simple tale of survival soon reveals itself to be a wonderful lesson about race, ability, and faith. It's no wonder that it was dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. This book thoroughly touched my heart, and by the end I had shed more than a couple of tears. There are a few places where the text is a bit dry and repetitive, but it is easy to forgive when the book is so fantastic as a whole.If you were like me and first read and hated The Cay as a child, I absolutely recommend picking it up again to experience it through your newly minted adult eyes. Because if you were truly like me, you'll find a beautiful story awaiting you that you won't believe your former child-self did not enjoy. 4 out of 5 stars.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When I was teaching, I read this with my 5th grade students. It got them thinking about the assumptions we make about one another, how we treat others, and the true meaning of friendship.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    World War II has come to the Caribbean. Phillip and his mother live here now with his father and mother. His mother wants to return to the US but is afraid of planes. She and Phillip head to the US by boat. The boat is torpedoed and Phillip finds himself on a raft with Timothy an ' old , ugly black man.' The raft finally reaches the cay and the two become friends and manage to survive.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is about a kid named Philip who lives in a war. His mom doesn't think it is safe so he is sent out of the country. The boat Philip is on sinks and he is sent adrift with a cat named Stew Cat and a black man named Timothy. Then Philip goes blind. Will they survive? I liked this book because of all the struggles Philip overcame. I recommend this book to people who like adventure and a little bit of emotion.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curacao. War has always been a game to him and he's eager to witness it first hand however his mother is really frigtened and convinces her husband that she and Phillip should leave Caribbean island and go to live in the USA with her sister. The freighter he and his mother are travelling on to the USA is torpedoed and instantly sinks. While manning the lifeboats Phillip is separated from his mother. While the freighter is sinking the boom hits him hard on teh back of his head, Phillip takes a considerable knock. Philip wakes to find himself adrift on a small raft in the middle of the ocean with an old West Indian man, Timothy. As they drift Phillip suffers from an excruciating head pain and becomes blind and totally dependant on Timothy. Together (along with Stew cat) they become marooned on a tiny deserted island and there begins their struggle to survive. A great story of survival and the developing friendship between a boy and man, a black man and a young white American boy who has been influenced by his mother's prejudices. I liked reading the accent of Timothy and found that this gave the story some sense of reality. However when Timothy died and Phillip was left to fend for himself i was reminded that this was fiction.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wonderful story about an 11 year old boy named Phillip Enright whose father is working for Royal Dutch Shell in Curacao. When German submarines start firing at oil tankers off shore, Phillip's mother decides she wants to go home to Virginia. Phillip's father cannot leave as he is part of the war effort, so Phillip and his mother board the freighter Hato and sail for Miami. On the morning of April 6th, 1942 they are torpedoed and Phillip ends up knocked out and in the water. He is saved by an old black man named Timothy from Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas along with the Hato's cat, Stew Cat. After a few days at sea the blow to his head causes Phillip to go blind. Before long Timothy finds a small cay and there they set up camp. This is a story of friendship and survival, beautifully told, well worth reading.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this book when I was in about 5th grade, and to this day I have never forgotten it. This book is so good I had to read it again. "The Cay" is about a young white boy named Philip and an elderly African/Caribbean man maned Timothy , after their boat is destroyed the unlikely pair travel through the ocean and end up on a desert island and take care of one another. They even make it through a hurricane together. This book is amazing and the author teachers the reader about the ocean and the land the two are on as well as the two characters themselves. The crazy twist to this novel is that Philip is blind, he in injured from the boat being destroyed. So Philip has to trust this stranger with not only his life, but his sight as well. This is one of my all time favorite books. This book is about survival, trust, and friendship.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am astonished at all the things I learned from reading this very short children's chapter book. I never knew that Caribbean islands lay just offshore from Venezuela in South America. I never knew there were valuable oil refineries on these islands. And I never knew the Germans tried to destroy these refineries during World War II. All of which appears in this story and all of which are based on true events.A wonderful little story about a boy who connects unexpectedly with a person he'd thought to be inferior to him when the two are stranded on an island together. It's the setting that provides much of the charm, but it's also the way the author is able to continue to tell the story through our first person narrator even after the boy is blinded.Nicely done.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Set during world war 2 and written for the junior/young adult reader, the cay follows the story of a young white boy who is shipwrecked with an old black man and a cat. Having lost his sight and washed up on a small cay, the boy has to deal with his prejudices and learn to respect the only person in the world who can keep him alive. A sad and inspiring tale.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this book years ago in school, turned out to be one of the best books i have ever read and it sparked my life long passion with reading. I enjoyed this book so much that I had to read the second book Timothy of the Cay! I gave this book FIVE STARS!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Timeless classic for 3-8th graders. As a teacher, I've both read it and listened to an audiotape of The Cay about 8 times over the years, and the storyline still draws me in each time. The tight plot and balanced morality are superior to so many other contemporary novels for kids. This is a book that I believe actually would educate our youth of today to learn racial tolerance. I highly recommend this book; Theodore Taylor is an interesting author too--check out his bio!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Reason for Reading: This is another book from the Randomly Selected Bookshelf that I am reading from this year. I'm pretty sure I've read this before but it must have been as a kid, because I didn't really remember the story. My son loves shipwreck/survival stories so this one will definitely be going in the bedtime reading pile for his dad to read to him.Phillip is twelve and lives in the West Indies, has ever since he was four, on the island of Curacao. World War II is in full swing, the year is 1940 and the West Indies have refineries which are supplying gas, kerosene, etc. But the German U-Boats have finally come to strike this important part of the Allied War Effort. Phillip's mother has always hated it here and wanted to go back to Virginia; she also is very prejudiced against the black people and tells Phillip her racist thoughts frequently, though he has never seen her point. He enjoys going down to the docks and watching the West Islanders work and talking to them. After the bombing she insists that it is time she take Philip back home but their ship is torpedoed and Philip ends up on a raft with a "Negro", Timothy. Philip has been injured on the back of the head by something very hard and goes in and out of consciousness, though he soon gets better except for the sore head. Part of the story tells of their survival on the raft, they have water and food which Timothy rations strictly. Their relationship is strained. Timothy doesn't talk much, works to keep them alive and is often blunt and to the point, though never rude. Philip takes this the wrong way, starts to think maybe his mother is right and blacks are different, which makes Philip take a haughty tone with Philip.The second part of the story deals with their survival on the uninhabited little island they drift upon. It has no fresh water and they depend on the rain, but food is plentiful. Philips eyesight starts to go grey until he is eventually goes blind but before this happens he and Timothy have an argument where Philip calls him racial names. Their strained relationship is at an apex. Philip's blindness creates an entire new meaning to the word survival and with the whole world dark he reexamines what black and white mean.This is a fantastic story of survival, friendship, race relations, love and truth. The book has a few exciting moments when extreme events happen but mostly it is a more realistic, quiet, day in, day out, survival story where the relationship between Timothy and Phillip is as much what the story is about as how they manage to survive so long on that island. A good book. One that boys will especially enjoy. Also recommended for older reluctant readers because of its mature storyline and short number of pages.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    While looking for something my son could read, I happened across "The Cay" and remembered that I had liked it as a kid. So I re-read it - and it was as good as I remembered. I liked the way that Philip and Timothy start out as strangers and how they come to care for each other. I found Philip's blindness just as horrifying now as I remember finding it as a child - how could he survive? especially after the storm? The ending is triumphant and I finished it up, pleased to find how well the story had held up for me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Phillip and Timothy were on a small ship in the Caribbean Sea in 1942. One night, a German ship attacked their ship and it went down. Timothy pulled Phillip into a lifeboat. While they were in the lifeboat Phillip went blind. Then they arrived at the cay and this is the story of their time there.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    i love this book. i had to read it for school and lots of te other kids did not like it. Oh well i guess its your taste in books.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I've started reading through some of the books in the curriculum at my school that I haven't previously read. A historical fiction piece about two people from very different walks of life trying to survive a shipwreck after being sunk by a UBoat off Curacao in World War II.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    the story of Phillip, a boy living on the island of Curacao off the island of Venezuela during World War II. He and his mother are trying to escape the war and head back to their home in Virginia. The ship they are riding on sinks. Phillip survives the boat accident only to be trapped on an island with a black man and a cat. The accident leaves Phillip blind. Not only does he have to learn to adjust to his blindness, but he must learn to survive on the barren island in the Caribbean Sea. Phillip is also faced with other challenges including a hurricane.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A very sweet story about the friendship between a boy and an old man. A great book for discussions about human nature, race, survival, love, and sacrifice. It's a bit like Uncle Tom's Cabin for younger readers because Timothy is the savior figure. It's a fabulous quick read that I would recommend to everyone.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Cay by Theodore Taylor is a great adventure story for the upper elementary student. What bothers me about The Cay is the fact that one of the main themes of the book, racism, might be difficult to discuss with the students this was written for. The interest level, reading level don't seem to be a good match here. I enjoy the coming of age theme and overcoming obstacles and disabilities that are throughout the book. Another issue I have with The Cay, despite its positives is that Timothy speaks in Caribbean dialect. This does provide authenticity, but it is difficult for grades 4-8 to understand what he says. The Caribbean dialect provides an opportunity to bring into the classroom a discussion on language, which does add a richness to the character. I have not met a child who didn't like this story, so despite the difficulties in language and theme, it is always a middle school student favorite.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was wonderful. A middle schooler named Phillip on a dangerous asventrue of a live time befriends Timothy, a black man. At first he does not trust him at first because of what his mother says but then befriends him. I think its amazing because he becomes blind at one point. This book sad, wonderful, exciting, and for sure, a classic.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow. This middle school or late elementary school reader was simply incredible. It is heart wrenching, dramatic, dangerous and fearless in it's discussion of racial prejudice, becoming independent despite disability, survival and growing up. When Phillip is reunited with his mother, he is not the same boy as we are not the same readers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "The Cay" is an exciting, entertaining read for the young adult. Phillip, an American boy living in Curacao, is on a boat back to America with his mother and several other passengers when the small boat is sunk by a German U-Boat's torpedo. Phillip wakes up on a life raft, with a splitting headache and the company of a cat ("Stew Cat") and an aged black man from the West Indies named Timothy. Several days later, Phillip awakes blind, and shortly after the raft ends up on a small cay in the "Devil's Mouth" - an area unforgiving for ships to travel.The survival story speaks of overcoming racism imposed by authority figures/culture. What better way to portray a person realizing there is no difference in race than that person being blind and reliant solely upon a person of differing race?Taylor writes with authority - short, terse prose reminiscent of Hemingway. Although the story is written for the young adult, it is an interesting and highly provocative read and a great story for all ages. The ending, however, is less than desirable as the last chapter wraps up the remainder of the story - which could have been several chapters in itself - in only a few pages.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It says on a few of the covers of this book, "It took blindness for Phillip to truly see." This was a great book that I believe everyone needs to read. It shows why racism is completely pointless in the end, and how it's the kindness on the inside that truly matters.I read this book for school, and, if I hadn't had as much work I had to do, I would have liked it even better.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Perhaps the most memorable of all books I read in elementary school, The Cay is a must-read for absolutely anyone. Covering such weighty topics as war, race, class, and death is not an easy thing to do at this reading level, but Taylor's brilliantly-crafted work does an impeccable job.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Reviewed Dec. 2002 Recommended by Stirling, I read this book in front of the heater Dec. 23 while missing my children. They were spending 2 weeks with their dad, and I was badly missing them. I had no idea what to expect from this book and was amazed how much I enjoyed it. Phillip is living during the beginning of WWII on an island in the Caribbean. His mother takes him to safety when their boat is destroyed by Germans. He is washed onto a tiny island with a black man, Timothy and a cat. After being struck by a board, Phillip becomes blind. On the island (The Cay) Timothy teaches him to be self reliant which allows Phillip to survive after Timothy's death. Marooned for months Phillip finally is rescued but finds he is no longer a child of 12, but a man. 22-2002
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I thought that this book was very interesting and it is a great adventure for the boy, even for a boy that is blind. this book had an interasting and it has been a grest bool to read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very well written, loved it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book. Brings back memories of my school days. Thanks
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I like this book it was very interesting very good I love it