ALA Booklist (Wed Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 1993)

After more than 20 years of hesitation on the part of the author, comes what he calls a prequel-sequel to his 1969 novel The Cay The strange term is not used lightly, for the story is, in fact, a complicated entwining of two personal narratives, set in different times and very unlike in pacing and mood. One takes place before Timothy and Phillip are shipwrecked on their tiny Caribbean island; the other, after Phillip is saved. Phillip's story, the sequel, follows him from his rescue to his return to the cay, his bigotry gone, to pay last respects to his beloved friend. It's Timothy's story, the prequel, that's the more exciting of the two. There's a strong sense of place in its telling, which begins in 1884 with 12-year-old Timothy's decision to go to sea and ends with old Timothy's meeting the uppity, prejudiced white boy on the life raft. Taylor is true to the characters he created for the original book--especially Timothy, whose lilting dialect, strength, and sense of honor are again a part of his character. But unlike the first book, this one is underscored with an indictment of prejudice: It's obvious (too obvious) in the story of Timothy's ancestry and in the characterization of Phillip's intolerant mother. There are great gaps in Timothy's history, and Phillip's story becomes tedious in comparison with Timothy's colorful adventures. Still, Taylor paints powerful pictures of the churning sea and the sights and smells of Back O' All, where Timothy lived as a boy. The author also manages some moving moments of introspection and quiet heroism as well as an occasional snatch of the same wild drama that fired The Cay Kids expecting the smoothly written heroic adventure they found in The Cay will be in for a surprise, but they'll recognize enough of what they loved in the first book to want to stick with this one to the end. (Reviewed Sept. 15, 1993)

Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1993)

Alternating chapters follow the fortunes of Timothy, a black sea captain, and twelve-year-old Phillip, who was blinded in the shipwreck he and Timothy survived in 'The Cay' (Doubleday). Timothy's story goes back in time to his boyhood, while Phillip tells of his reconciliation with his parents after his rescue and his decision to undergo risky surgery to restore his sight. Neither story is particularly compelling.

Kirkus Reviews

The Cay (the award-winning 1969 novel about racial prejudice in the 1940s) is the unseen vessel in the middle of a ``prequel/sequel'' in which Taylor explores both the black man Timothy's life as it leads up to the wreck of the Hato in the Caribbean during WW II and 12-year-old Phillip Enright's journey back to civilization after his rescue from the island. Alternating chapters follow Timothy from his early abandonment by his mother through his struggles to sail the sea and his command of his own ship; and Phillip's agony as he returns to the busy streets and busy lives of his parents, through an operation to regain his sight, and finally to a return with his father to Timothy's cay. Laced with a lilting island cadence, Timothy's chapters sketch a murky sea of racial prejudice; readers will ache with him at his losses. Phillip's chapters, in a terse first person, depict the narrowness of his mother's world with a clarity heightened by Phillip's blindness. A journey well worth taking. (Fiction. 10-14)"

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

`Tis a beautiful cay, dis cay,' Timothy had said. He was right.'' So says Phillip Enright after his first actual view of the islet on which, in The Cay , he was stranded with the old black sailor Timothy, who taught him to survive. Phillip's return to the isolated spot marks the culmination of a journey both physical and spiritual. In alternating chapters Taylor recounts the events following the blinded 12-year-old's rescue from the remote island, and chronicles Timothy's history as well. In the tradition of its predecessor, thisprequel/sequel'' explores social and racial imbalances and draws a graceful parallel between Timothy's youthful struggle to achieve an unheard-of dream--the captaincy of his own boat--and Philip's courage in choosing to undergo a risky operation to restore his vision. At times, the author seems to apologize for Timothy's illiteracy, his stubbornness and his belief in the spirits called jumbis , which seems unnecessary, given the character's obvious dignity and deep-rooted wisdom. Somewhat more thoughtful than its well-loved antecedent, this boldly drawn novel is no less commanding. Ages 10-14. (Sept.)

School Library Journal

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.-Susan Knorr, Milwaukee Public Library, WI