My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Cay is an adventurous work of fiction that shows a beautiful relationship between Phillip and Timothy, the story of a blind white boy and an elderly black man stranded together on a Caribbean island during World War II. The text has themes of survival and trust. It shows Phillip overcoming his racism and being thankful that Timothy is with him. The line “Are you still black?” has to be the key turning point in the story.
I melted into this tale as Phillip and Timothy struggled to survive while awaiting rescue. Excellent lessons on ethnicity. This would be a milder approach to Mark Twain’s similar lessons in the Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn stories.
A wonderful adventure story to add to your Christmas gift list for the tweens in your life. I think buying books for young boys is especially difficult and this one is perfect for both the boys and girls. This book makes a great read-a-loud, also. It is not too long and gives the opportunity for lots of great discussions. Hooray all around!
Another thought that occurred to me as I was reading was how many blind child hero books are there out there? Outside of the Helen Keller books, not many from what I’ve read and how cool is that?!!
This is another book that was made into a movie called The Cay. I had no idea. Looks as if it was a pretty well received movie, back in 1974, when they were still making movies for television. I have to find this one because James Earl Jones, starring as Timothy, has to be worth the search!
Sewfrench 
Great Read for both any time as well as this time of the year. Blessings Always, Mtetar
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