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Just released - a new edition of
The Maldonado Miracle
(Harcourt)
The powerful story that inspired the acclaimed "Showtime" Original Movie,
directed by Salma Hayek.
Available at your local bookstore! |
For teachers, students and parents:
I receive many wonderful letters, drawings, photos and creative communications
from the young people who read my books. In an effort to encourage those
artistic, creative and thoughtful endeavors, I shall randomly display some of
their contributions on this page.
If you would like any such work of yours to be published here, please grant
permission when you mail your letter and/or art work to me. I am not set up to
handle communication by email.
From Bonner Springs, Kansas:
Dear Mr. Taylor,
My name is Devin Harvey, and I live in the beautiful town
of Bonner Springs, KS. I am an avid reader, and when I was introduced to your
piece The Cay, well let me just say I had doubts it would be any good.
The size worried me, and to top it all off my little brother in the fifth grade
was reading it in class. So you could understand why I didn't really want to
read it, yet as much as I would have liked to put it off it was for a grade. So
I read The Cay, and needless to say I was stunned. Your book, though
small kept me so entranced, and glued to every page it's not even funny.
I think the best parts of the book are when Timothy shows
care for Phillip, even when Phillip is being stupid, and stubborn. It was really
cool the way Timothy jumped into the shark-infested waters just to save Phillip.
The way Timothy just ignores Phillip's whining and goes on surviving also goes
beyond my mind, because I honestly wouldn't be able to handle some little 11 yr.
kid stuck on a raft with me. Timothy's character really did touch me.
After reading this book I have certainly changed. No
longer do I judge small books by their cover, and I also have a stronger sense
of survival in my everyday life. Whether it is school, my grades, or my
girlfriend, I know that as alone as I may feel, I can always find some help. Not
only from adults, but also from close friends such as Timothy, and Phillip, help
can always be there.
In conclusion, I would like to thank you for writing such
amazing pieces of literature. Your work has more than inspired me to take a step
up in my life, but it has also taught me to be much more kind to others. Thank
you!
Sincerely,
/s/ Devin Harvey
From St. Thomas, USVI:
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On a Tiny Cay |
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Off in the ocean on a tiny cay
An old man and a young boy lay
And as they sat there in the sun
A great friendship had just begun
Timothy, yes that was his name
Tried to tell Phillip that they were the same
But it took young Phillip quite a while
To understand this major trial
Then a terrible hurricane came
And what had once been was never the same
Old Timothy of Charlotte Amalie died
And poor young Phillip cried and cried
But it was only then that he could truly see
What Timothy had wanted him to be
Timothy wanted him to feel the joys
Of blacks and whites playing as boys
So Phillip dug a hole for his devoted friend
And as he did he imagined a terrible end
He was so sad and filled with woe
What had happened, and how was that so?
He continued on for many days
But right there he got out of that maze
Because Phillip got taken away from that cay
But he took those memories with him that day.
-- Julia Teare © 2003
Sixth Grade, Antilles School
St. Thomas, U.S.Virgin Islands
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Click
here to read Theodore Taylor's comments about his autobiography, Making Love
to Typewriters.
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