Teetoncey

Cape Hatteras Trilogy #1

by Theodore Taylor

In 1898, twelve-year-old Ben rescues a near-drowned girl from a shipwreck off the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Although the girl, named Teetoncey, becomes part of his family, she will not utter a single word.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Childrens

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this as one of my 40 favorite books in my 40th year. This was a childhood favorite that I read all the time when my family vacationed in the Outer Banks, NC, where this book takes place. This book gave me a lot of nostalgia for those trips and the illustrations were like old friends. But I didn't like it as much as when I was a kid. The book isn't about Teetoncey at all but about Ben, the boy who finds her after a shipwreck. She is silent through the vast majority of the book and the book mostly deals with Ben and his fighting with his mother and dislike of Teetoncey and how she lives with them. I remembered her being a bigger part of the book as a kid (though I know she is in the later books).

There was also some things that went over my head as a kid but I was more aware of as an adult. Like a doctor the women don't let patients be alone with as he "evil hands". Boys learning and practicing curse words and talking about seeing Teetoncey naked when she was pulled out of the sea. Just a couple of lines like that.

But I really liked the history of the Outer Banks and how it mentioned places I visited as a kid. It has a good sense of place. I just loved these books as a kid so they will always have a really special place in my heart even if I don't love them as an adult.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of Theodore Taylor’s The Cay, I decided to try his middle grade Cape Hatteras Trilogy. Good decision. A raging storm deposits a small girl on shore, but her injuries have rendered her speechless, and with that the story is off and running. Ben and his mother have their own inner storms to weather. A satisfying tale.

[Rrshively · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for young people. My grandson recommended it to me, and it was fun reading a book he liked. It is good because it is also very interesting for an adult. I had been on the outer banks up by Kitty Hawk and on Roanoke Island, so I enjoyed learning more about the history of the area. The plot has some twists and turns that kept my eyes on the page. I am looking forward to reading the next 2 books in this trilogy and comparing notes with my grandson.

[Michelle Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

We have been to the Outer Banks a few times and plan to head there again later this summer, so when I saw the setting for this book I was looking forward to reading it. An interesting but unexceptional story; it was fun to read about places we have visited before. I especially enjoyed getting a glimpse at outer banks life at the turn of the 20th century before all the commercialization of today took place.
I am still undecided about passing this on for my children to read due to a very brief mention of one of the 12 year old boy friends of the main character asking if Ben (main character) had seen ‘the girl’ naked when she was pulled from the water. It was brief and forgettable but I wish it hadn’t been included.

[Gwen Testa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 1 of the Cape Hatteras Trilogy: takes place in 1898 when 12 yr. old Ben rescues an English girl from a shipwreck off the Outer Banks of NC
The girl is dazed and doesn’t speak so they name her Teetoncey, meaning “small”
Good history of the island and how life saving was done at that time
Author was born in Statesville, NC in 1921

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was absolutely enchanted by this book when I first read it. I'm guessing on the read date but it must have been before 1985 because I mention in my journal from 1985 that I've read this whole series and loved it.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book mentioned a few things that might not be ideal for younger readers: a doctor the women don't let patients be alone with as he has "evil hands," boys learning and practicing curse words, and talking about seeing Teetoncey naked when pulled out of the sea.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

B-. fiction, children's fiction, middle grades, 19th c., Outer Banks, castaway, Mom's stash, discard

[Eros · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a character-driven book so nothing much happens throughout, but it's still a short and sweet book that I don't regret picking up.

[Cheryl Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for youngsters who love the ocean and sea adventures. The sense of place--the Outer Banks in winter--is wonderful.

[sarafem · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first in a trilogy of books set in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It is written by Theodore Taylor, author of The Cay. Everyone knows I'm overexuberantly proud of being from this ass-backwards countrified redneck state, and maybe some people know that the Outer Banks are my favorite part of the state, and that The Cay happens to be one of my favorite kids books, so you probably wouldn't be surprised to know that when I saw this book I was so excited I almost peed my pants! Hurrah!

So anyway, Teetoncey is the name given to a girl that is the sole survivor of one of the islands' infamous shipwrecks. The word is island-talk for small, methinks a variant of teensy-weensy. How about these tangents, folks?!!? Moving on, Tee is taken in by an island family and the book is about her bond with them and overcoming the trauma of the accident. The story itself is just plain excellent, and heartwarming, and all that stuff we always say about well-written children's books. But what I like most about it is that it really captures the spirit of the islands; it really is not a stretch of the imagination to believe that a community there would come together to protect and love this little lost girl. It makes me want to drive up there this week and play with some wild ponies.

[Anne-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. It wasn't the sort of book that I couldn't put down, but it was still an interesting story. A girl basically washes up on an island where a boy named Ben O'Neil is living, and she refuses to talk for a REALLY long time. Ben's family takes the girl in, and most of the book is devoted to the family trying to get the girl to talk and tell them what happened and how she ended up on the island.

[Meredith Callanan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 12-yr old son and I read this together and really enjoyed it. It's a wonderful human story about an adolescent boy and his mom nursing a shipwrecked young girl back to health. While the story takes place many years ago, the emotions of the young man are as real today as they were back then.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't sure there was enough story here to hold my 8 year old's attention, but he got very involved with the characters and as soon as we finished this one, he wanted me to start the next book in the series. It helped that we read it while we were visiting the OBX!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this series several times, and I have enjoyed it each time. OBX is our favorite place to vacation.

10/2/2017: So, it's October and it's OBX time. Re-read this, yet again.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. I wasn't always into it. It had some slow parts, and it wasn't the kind of book that I can't put down, but it was ok and I will be reading the next books in the series.

[Matthew Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really nice book! But this is a book about 12 year old kids. Why are they cursing? That really should've been left out.