Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon

Dhan Gopal Mukerjis childrens book Gay-Neck the Tale of a Pigeon won the Newbery Medal in 1928 for outstanding achievement in American childrens literature. It focuses on Gay-Neck a prized Indian pigeon and his life. The books subliminal message according to Mukerji is that man and winged creatures are brothers. While the boy in the novel is Mukerji himself he said that a large portion of the book is based on his experiences as a child with a group of forty pigeons and their leader. For some sections of the book he did have to draw on the experiences of others such as those who taught messenger pigeons during the war. The book provides information on pigeon training as well as the early 1900s life of a youngster from a high caste. In a few of the chapters Gay-Neck a pigeon tells the story in the first person. Gay-Neck was written in Brittany where Mukerji read to the youngsters gathered about him on the beach every afternoon the chapter he had written in the morning according to Elizabeth Seeger in her biography of the author. Meena G. Khorana mentions how Mukerji recalls the Himalayas grandeur and spiritual power in an article in the childrens literature journal The Lion and the Unicorn calling the book one of the few childrens books from Western or Indian authors to explore the Himalayas in a meaningful way (rather than just using them as a setting).