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The Great Quest From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Great Quest by Charles Boardman Hawes is a children's adventure novel which was a Newbery Honor recipient in 1922.[1] Illustrated by George Varian, it was published by The Atlantic Monthly Press in 1921.

Contents [hide] 1	Plot 2	Awards 3	References 4	External links Plot[edit source] The story opens in fictional Topham, Massachusetts, in 1826. After the man Cornelius "Neal" Gleazen unexpectedly returns to town, he involves childhood friend Seth Woods and Seth's nephew, twenty-year-old protagonist Josiah "Joe" Woods, in a dangerous sea journey to retrieve a hidden treasure. Accompanying them are Seth's two store-clerks, Arnold Lamont and Sim Muzzy, and farmer Abraham Guptil, on whose mortgage Neal forced Seth to foreclose in order to raise money to outfit the expedition.

When the travelers reach Cuba it is revealed that there is no hidden treasure, and that Neal's actual intent is to kidnap native Africans from Guinea to sell as slaves. However, it is not until they reach Africa that Joe, Seth, and the others find an opportunity to take control of the expedition from Neal. While in Africa, they rescue from danger a white missionary's daughter, who is accompanied by a native African slave or servant (his status is unclear) belonging to the Fantee nation. Both of these accompany them back to Massachusetts via South America.[2] Arnold Lamont, however, stays behind in Valparaiso.

Awards[edit source] The Great Quest, received a special runner-up citation from the Newbery committee in 1922, the first year the Newbery was awarded. According to Barbara Elleman in The Newbery and Caldecott Awards, originally the award was based on votes by a selected jury of Children's Librarian Section officers. Hendrik van Loon's book The Story of Mankind won the award with 163 votes out of the 212 cast. The Great Quest came in second with twenty-two votes.[3] All previous runner-up citations were converted to Honor Awards in 1971.[4]

References[edit source] Jump up ^ "Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922-Present". American Library Association. Retrieved 2009-12-30. Jump up ^ Gillespie, John T.; Corinne J. Naden (2001). The Newbery Companion (2nd ed.). Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc. pp. 5–6. ISBN 1-56308-813-4. Jump up ^ Association for Library Service to Children (2007). The Newbery and Caldecott Awards: A Guide to the Medal and Honor Books. ALA Editions. p. 11. Jump up ^ "How the Newbery Medal Came to Be". The John Newbery Medal. Retrieved 21 July 2012. External links[edit source] The Great Quest

Tales from Silver Lands
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Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Gay-Neck, the Story of a Pigeon Gay Neck the Story of a Pigeon.jpg Author	Dhan Gopal Mukerji Illustrator	Boris Artzybasheff Country	United States Language	English Genre	Children's novel Publisher	E. P. Dutton Publication date 1928 Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback) Pages	191 pp Gay-Neck, the Story of a Pigeon is a 1928 children's novel by Dhan Gopal Mukerji that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1928. It deals with the life of Gay-Neck, a prized Indian pigeon. Mukerji wrote that "the message implicit in the book is that man and winged animals are brothers."[1] He stated that much of the book is based on his boyhood experiences with a flock of forty pigeons and their leader, as the boy in the book is Mukerji himself.[2] He did have to draw from the experiences of others for some parts of the book, such as those who trained messenger pigeons in the war.[1] The book offers an insight into the life of a boy of high caste during the early 1900s and also into the training of pigeons.[3] Several chapters are told from Gay-Neck's perspective, with the pigeon speaking in first person. Elizabeth Seeger writes in a biographical note about Mukerji that, "Gay-Neck was written in Brittany, where every afternoon he read to the children gathered about him on the beach the chapter he had written in the morning."[2] In an article in the children’s literature journal The Lion and the Unicorn, Meena G. Khorana calls the novel one of the few children’s novels from Western or Indian authors to explore the Himalayas in a meaningful way (rather than simply using them as a setting), and notes the way Mukerji recalls their “grandeur and spiritual power”.[4]

Plot[edit source] Gay-Neck, or ‘’Chitra-Griva’’, is born to a young owner in India. Gay-Neck’s parents teach him how to fly, but he soon loses his father in a storm and his mother to a hawk. His master and Ghond the hunter take him out into the wilderness, but he becomes so scared by the hawks that he flees and ends up in a lamasery where the Buddhist monks are able to cure him of his fear. When his young master returns home he finds Gay-Neck waiting for him. But Gay-Neck decides to go on other long journeys, much to the boy’s consternation. Then, during World War I, Gay-Neck and Ghond end up journeying to Europe where Gay-Neck serves as a messenger pigeon. He is chased by German machine-eagles (planes) and is severely traumatized when one of his fellow messenger pigeons is shot down. Gay-Neck and Ghond barely survive, and Gay-Neck is unable to fly. Ghond, Gay-Neck, and his master return to the lamasery near Singalila, where Ghond and Gay-Neck need to be cleansed of the hate and fear of the war. After that, Ghond succeeds in hunting down a buffalo that killed a villager, but feels remorse for having to kill the buffalo. Gay-Neck disappears once more, but when the other two return home, they find, to their joy, that Gay-Neck had already flown there ahead of them.

References[edit source] ^ Jump up to: a b Mukerji, Dhan Gopal (1957). "Fruits form the Living Tree". In Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field. Horn Book Papers. Volume. 1. Boston: The Horn Book. pp. 59–64. ^ Jump up to: a b Elizabeth, Seeger (1957). "Dhan Mukerji and His Books". In Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field. Horn Book Papers. Volume. 1. Boston: The Horn Book. pp. 53–58. Jump up ^ Peterson, Linda Kauffman; Marilyn Leather Solt (1982). Newbery and Caldecott Medal and Honor Books: an annotated bibliography. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co. pp. 22–23. ISBN 0-8161-8448-8. Jump up ^ Khorana, Meena G. (1991). "The River Is Eternal: Nature Mysticism and Vedanta Philosophy in Ruskin Bond's Angry River". The Lion and the Unicorn. 19 (2): 253–268. doi:10.1353/uni.1995.0027. ISSN 0147-2593. Children's literature portal Awards Preceded by Smoky the Cow Horse	Newbery Medal recipient 1928	Succeeded by The Trumpeter of Krakow

Needs plot
The Cat Who Went to Heaven From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The Cat Who Went to Heaven The Cat Who Went to Heaven.jpg Author	Elizabeth Coatsworth Illustrator	Lynd Ward Country	United States Language	English Genre	Children's novel Publisher	Aladdin Books; Reissue edition (November 30, 1990) Publication date 1930 Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback) The Cat Who Went to Heaven is a 1930 novel by Elizabeth Coatsworth that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1931. The story is set in ancient Japan, and is about a penniless artist and a calico cat his housekeeper brings home.

The storyline is supposedly based on an old Buddhist folk tale, and includes, as asides, a short telling of the Buddha's life, and brief accounts of some of the Buddha's previous lifetimes as animals, as in the Jataka tales.

At the end of each of the eight chapters is one of the housekeeper's songs, her insightful commentary on what is happening.

The story[edit source] An impoverished Japanese painter sends his housekeeper out with a few small coins to buy food. Instead, she brings home a cat from the dock, stating that the house is "lonely". The painter is initially very unhappy with this choice, as he is hungry. He remarks that he can't even remember what rice cakes taste like, and states that cats are devils. However, he is somewhat consoled when he notices that the cat's white coat actually has three colors, which is considered lucky.

The unusually good behaviour of the cat causes the painter to feel more affectionate, and he names the animal "Good Fortune". At breakfast, the painter notices that the cat appears to be paying homage to the image of the Buddha, and he comments on his own lack of prayer because of the hard times he has lived through. Soon after, he notices the hungry cat catch, and then gently release, a small bird. The cat behaves very well, even removing itself from the room when it cannot be useful, and following proper social behaviour.

Almost completely destitute, the painter is given a commission by the monks at the local temple. They hired him because of a divination; they had put slips of paper with various artists names out in the courtyard, and his was the one left after the others had blown away. The artist has to paint a picture of the dying Buddha, surrounded by animals who came to pay homage to him. The artist is given a large sum of money as a first payment, to "put his mind at ease".

As the artist progresses with the painting, he meditates on the life of the Buddha and the Buddha's previous lives, in order to be able to paint each part of the scene sincerely.

Towards the end of the painting process, and after painting many other animals, the painter realizes that his cat, who he now sees as a truly noble being, cannot be represented in the painting. The story says that the traditional belief in his time was that cats are supposedly cursed, because of their pride and sense of superiority, which apparently caused them to refuse to bow before the Buddha in his lifetime, and that this therefore means they are barred from achieving Nirvana. Consequently, the prevailing thought is that no cat may go to Heaven.

When the picture is completed, Good Fortune seems to notice and sadly protests the lack of any cat in the painting. Deeply touched by her grief, the artist finally paints a small white cat at the back in the corner, aware however that this may displease the monks. Upon seeing that the artist has done this, Good Fortune dies of joy. By her grave is a peach tree with a bell hanging on it; the housekeeper sings that she can hear the bell singing " Rejoice!"

The painting is finally delivered, and is greatly praised by the monks until they notice the presence of a cat, at which point they reject it completely and plan to burn it. The painter goes home in disgrace. But the evening brings the news of a miracle: the painter arrives to find the picture being adored in the temple. When put in the fire, it would not burn, and when taken out of the flames the image had miraculously changed: the dying Buddha now extends his hand in blessing over the white cat sitting right next to him.

References[edit source]