Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curaçao. War has always been a game to him, and he's eager to glimpse it firsthand - until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on is torpedoed.

When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in the middle of the sea. Besides Stew Cat, his only companion is an old West Indian, Timothy. Phillip remembers his mother's warning about black people: "They are different, and they live differently."

But by the time the castaways arrive on a small island, Phillip's head injury has made him blind and dependent on Timothy.

READING LEVEL: 5.3 AR POINTS: 4.0
(Ages 9-12, grades 4-5)

A classic historical novel originally published in 1969. This novel starts out with some pretty harsh racism but later shows those walls were broken down by the main character’s blindness. I found this very symbolic for the way we should see all races, which I believe this author was trying to convey to young readers back in 1969.

It is 1942, the world is at war, and German submarines have surrounded Curacao, the largest Dutch island off the coast of Venezuela. Phillip Enright, age 11, was at first excited but quickly learned war was not fun-and-games as he witnessed a tanker being blown to smithereens when it left port and headed out to sea.

His mother insisted on leaving the island and head back to the safety of America, but his father was bound and had to stay for his work in the war. So, just the two of them boarded a schooner, the HATO, believing it to be safe to exit the harbor, and headed back to Virginia, where they were originally from, for the duration of World War II. But, their schooner was torpedoed. Phillip found himself and the rest of the crew who had made it into the rescue boat, thrown into the sea. He was knocked hard in the head by debris and passed out.

Phillip was scooped up out of the sea by an old black islander named Timothy. They drifted for several days on the high seas trying to survive when suddenly Phillip went blind from the knock in the head, which had damaged some nerves. They drifted and drifted until they came upon a small and obscure low-lying island (called a cay), hidden out in the Caribbean in an area known as the Devil’s Mouth. There, Phillip did a lot of growing up during the two and a half months spent alone on that island with Timothy.

Once a spoiled, racist and scared little kid, and without his eyesight to reveal the differences in his black rescuer Timothy and himself, he learned to trust, depend and eventually love wise old Timothy. He no longer saw Timothy as an ugly, old and stupid black man. He may have not been educated, but he was very smart on survival skills and very patient and loving towards Phillip. Timothy taught Phillip not to use excuses, such as being blind, to do nothing. He set Phillip up for survival on the island alone just encase he, himself, didn’t make it. In the end, old Timothy did give his life protecting Phillip, something Phillip will never forget.

Because of Timothy's strong character, this experience changed Phillips relationships forever with the other black islanders on Curacao once he was rescued and returned to the island. He was no longer afraid and actually made a point to mingle and get to know them better. ( )

There is a prequel to this book that is titled "Timothy of the Cay."

There is a prequel to this book titled "Timothy of the Cay."

This is not only a gripping story of survival, but also a powerful story of letting go of prejudice. Taking place in the Caribbean during World War II, twelve your old Phillip was on the torpedoed ship, Hato, with his mother. When Phillip awakes he is floating in a raft with Timothy, an older black deckhand. They will reach a coral island where Timothy will teach Phillip, who is now blind, how to survive. Phillip learns more than survival. He will finally "see" Timothy's kindness, caring and strength and realize that his earlier notions were wrong. This historical fiction book would be good for demonstrating how racism and prejudice may have looked during the time period around World War II (1940s) . As the Jane Addams Children's Book Award stated "This historic novel...arguably shows that if only people would see and value each other as individual human beings, there would be no racism." ( )