The Cay is a children's novel and book one of the Cay series, written by American author Theodore Taylor, and published in 1969. 11-year-old Phillip Enright and his mother board the S.S. Hato to Virginia to escape Curaçao, which has been surrounded by German submarines. The ship is torpedoed, and Phillip, blinded by a blow to the head, is stranded at sea with an old black man called Timothy and a cat called Stew Cat. Initially Phillip, heeding his mother's racist warnings, is full of distain for Timothy. They come ashore on a cay - a low sandbank. Here Timothy teaches Phillip to look after himself, and their friendship grows. Timothy dies, and a devastated Phillip is rescued, along with Stew Cat. The novel was awarded the Jane Addams Children's Book Award in 1970, but due to controversy over the racism in the novel, the award was rescinded. Opposing this, Taylor described The Cay as "a subtle plea for better race relations and more understanding."

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The Cay

 
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