The Cay

The Cay, by Theodore Taylor

If you are looking for an audiobook that adults and children (ages 10 and up) can enjoy together try The Cay by Theodore Taylor. This adventure/survival story is set during World War II. A young white boy and an old black man are stranded on a small uninhabited island after a boat they were on was torpedoed by the Germans. The young boy goes blind as a result of an injury and he comes to realize that friendship is color blind. I listened to the recent Random House/Listening Library compact disc version. The reader, Michael Boatman of Spin City fame, does an excellent job with the West Indian dialect of Timothy, the old black man. A previous version on Audio Cassette has Levar Burton as the reader. A bonus track on the compact disc is an interview with the author, recently deceased, who talks about the inspiration for this novel and how the book changed his life.
-Marilyn