Theodore Taylor was an American author of more than fifty fiction and nonfiction books for young adult and adult readers. During World War II, he first served as a cadet-AB seaman on a gasoline tanker, then became a naval officer in the Pacific Theater. Taylor published his first book, The Magnificent Mitscher, in 1955. His novel The Cay won eleven literary awards, including the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was adapted into a film in 1974. In 2006, Taylor passed away in his beloved “house in the woods” in Laguna Beach, California. He was surrounded by his family, his books, and years of wonderful memories.