Status
Available
Series
Collection
Publication
Clarion Books (2007), Edition: First Edition, 161 pages
Description
Having survived being blinded and shipwrecked on a tiny Caribbean island with the old black man Timothy, twelve-year-old white Phillip is rescued and hopes to regain his sight with an operation. Alternate chapters follow the life of Timothy from his days as a young cabin boy.
Local notes
School Library Journal, 09/30/1993
Gr 5-8-Twenty-four years after publication of The Cay (Doubleday, 1987, 1969), Taylor returns to his story of a young white boy stranded on a Caribbean island with an elderly, resourceful black man. The narrative alternates between Phillip's first-person accounts of what happened to him after his rescue, and flashbacks in the third person telling Timothy's story, starting with his childhood in St. Thomas. In The Cay, readers learned how Phillip came to be on the torpedoed ship Hato; this prequel/sequel adds depth to Timothy's character through its treatment of episodes that led up to that event. The boy's story is less revealing than the man's, and some of it has already been told and is slightly contradicted by dates in the final chapter of The Cay. Faithful in tone, dialect, and characterization to the earlier title, Timothy does not delve as deeply into the theme of the first book. Instead, while it touches on racial prejudice, its focus is more on Phillip's appreciation of his friend and guardian angel, and on the adventurous and touching yarns of the West Indian man's life at sea. Those who enjoyed the earlier book will feel as though they're meeting up with old acquaintances and learning more about them, and will see the story come full circle when Phillip returns-with his sight-to the island.
Gr 5-8-Twenty-four years after publication of The Cay (Doubleday, 1987, 1969), Taylor returns to his story of a young white boy stranded on a Caribbean island with an elderly, resourceful black man. The narrative alternates between Phillip's first-person accounts of what happened to him after his rescue, and flashbacks in the third person telling Timothy's story, starting with his childhood in St. Thomas. In The Cay, readers learned how Phillip came to be on the torpedoed ship Hato; this prequel/sequel adds depth to Timothy's character through its treatment of episodes that led up to that event. The boy's story is less revealing than the man's, and some of it has already been told and is slightly contradicted by dates in the final chapter of The Cay. Faithful in tone, dialect, and characterization to the earlier title, Timothy does not delve as deeply into the theme of the first book. Instead, while it touches on racial prejudice, its focus is more on Phillip's appreciation of his friend and guardian angel, and on the adventurous and touching yarns of the West Indian man's life at sea. Those who enjoyed the earlier book will feel as though they're meeting up with old acquaintances and learning more about them, and will see the story come full circle when Phillip returns-with his sight-to the island.
Subjects
Awards
Young Hoosier Book Award (Nominee — Middle Grade — 1996)
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (Nominee — 1996)
Kentucky Bluegrass Award (Nominee — Grades 4-8 — 1995)
Mark Twain Readers Award (Nominee)
Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature (Honor Book — 1994)
South Dakota Teen Choice Book Awards (Nominee — 1994)
Grand Canyon Reader Award (Nominee — Teen — 1997)
Colorado Children's Book Award (Nominee — 1996)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1994)