About The Author
TAYLOR, THEODORE (1921 --)
Theodore Taylor was born, in Statesville, North Carolina, near the Catawba River, on June 23, 1921. Taylor had four sisters.
When he was about nine years old, he had apaper route. He delivered the papers early in the morning and then went to school. Theodore Taylor's family moved to Norfolk, Virginia when he was a child because his father got a job at a naval yard there. When he was thirteen he got his first writing job. He worked for the Evening Star in Portsmouth, Virginia, writing about local high school sports. He graduated from high school, then moved to Washington, D. C. when he was seventeen. In Washington he got a job as a copyboy for the Washington, D. C. Daily News. He never went to college, so he learned about newspaper work from his early jobs. When he was about nineteen, he moved to New York City and got a job writing sports for NBC radio.
Taylor served in the Navy during World War II. He started out as a cadet-AB seaman on a gasoline tanker, then worked aboard four other merchant ships. He was promoted to an officer and was sent to the South Pacific. He also served in the Korean War with the Naval Reserve. His unit helped victims of hurricanes in the Caribbean Islands. This is where he got the idea for The Cay. He modeled Timothy and Phillip after people he met. The plot is based on a true story, and it only took Taylor about three weeks to write this book!
When he left the Navy, he went to California. His first book, called The Magnificent Mitscher, was published in 1955. He worked in California for Paramount Pictures for several years before starting to write full-time.
The Cay won 11 awards. Taylor says he is most proud of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, "since the book was deemed worthy of being on a shelf with Alice in Wonderland." It was also named to the Horn Book honor list, the American Library Association's Notable Books, and the New York Times Best Books of the Year.
Theodore Taylor wrote many other books, including The Maldonado Miracle, The Teetoncey Trilogy, and Sweet Friday Island. In 1993 he wrote Timothy of the Cay, which is a prequel/sequel to The Cay. He writes for both young adults and adults, and has written novels, short stores, and novelettes. Taylor lives with his wife in Laguna Beach, California.
For more information about Theodore Taylor, visit his Web site at www.theodoretaylor.com.
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