Through the humans’ narratives, the reader learns about the care, patience and respect required when dealing with animals (a much needed lesson for any child!), while through the pigeon’s narrative, the reader is able to view the world with new eyes, helping to build a more emphatic bond with the natural world around us. The author cleverly shifts between using the boy and the pigeon as narrators, providing different perspectives to alternate parts of the story. The story is filled with their many adventures and deftly moves from the streets of Calcutta to the lush jungles of the Himalayas and even into war torn Europe when Gay-Neck is enlisted as a carrier pigeon during World War I.
The first novel in this mini omnibus, ‘Gay-Neck The Story of a Pigeon’ is the story of a boy his beloved pigeon ‘Chitra-Griva’ - meaning ‘painted in gay colours’ and ‘neck’ and Ghond, a master hunter and wildlife expert. This is good to bear in mind as it not only helps the reader understand his style of storytelling better but also the India that he writes about. Dhan Gopal Mukerji, the author of the two tales and the only Indian winner of the John Newbery medal, was born in 1890 in a village that straddled the already vibrant city of Calcutta and the deep, untamed jungle of Kajangal.
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