Actor reads 'The Cay' at Hoover Middle School

Hoover Middle School takes reading seriously -- so seriously, that teachers are inviting actors to come out and participate in reading with the students.

Langston Fishburne, an actor and son of noted actor Laurence Fishburne, recently visited Hoover thanks to an invitation from a friend of his, Ms. Betke. 

After Hoover students finished reading "The Cay," Fishburne visited the building to read the story with his genuine Caribbean accent. He's lived in the Caribbean and managed to bring the musicality of the accent alive for the students and staff who attended the reading.

"The Cay," a children's novel by Theodore Taylor published in 1969, centers on 11-year-old Phillip Enright, who is traveling with his mother to America from Curacao after World War II breaks out. The ship they are traveling on is torpedoed, and Phillip is blinded and stranded on an island with a old black man named Timothy and a black cat named Stew Cat. Thanks to his own racial prejudice, Phillip has problems dealing with Timothy, but the two learn to overcome their disdain for one another as Phillip depends heavily on Timothy. Eventually, their roles reverse. When the old man is killed, Phillip is rescued and surgery gives him back his sight.

In addition, after Hoover classes finished reading "The Hobbit," the entire school took a field trip to see it on opening day. The book, published to critical acclaim in 1937, remains popular and is recognized as a classic in children's literature. Personal growth and forms of heroism are its central themes. It was eventually followed by "The Lord of the Rings."