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The Pigeoncote cares for lost and injured pigeon, and is a non culling pigeon refuge,
located in Olympia, WA USA. We have been in continuous service since 1993.

Birds in the StreetWinifred and Cecil Lubell
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$18 Ex-libary harback and very good condition.
Angelo David Macaulay

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Angelo, while restoring an ancient building finds a wounded pigeon and becomes the bird's reluctant savior. That act changes from reluctance to dedication as the two learn of each other.
$12 Mint hardback
The Boy on the Roof Mararet MacPherson
Click to see larger image of book cover The story of a boy and a girl whose parents are in the service in a master house have a secret. Far upon the roof they have a small loft and a homing pigeon. As one might expect problems abound, but are overcome. Careful this story may well create an interest in pigeons, regardless of gender.
$40 Excellent hardback with jacket

Gay-Neck:The Story of a Pigeon; Dhan Gopal Mukerji: Boris Artzybasheff (Illustrator)

book jacketThis is really the classic tale of boy and pigeon that was first published in 1927. It was awarded the Newberry Medal for the best children's book of the year. Quite an honor for any book, but a book about pigeons and a boy no less. It is set in India, as you may have guessed from the author's name. As noted it was published 1927, and I first read it some years later. If there is a book that interested me in pigeons, this has to be it. It takes some license in fact, but the story of a child and pet is all there. I have read it several times since my first excursions and still find something there every time. 
$23: Mint hardback without dust jacket.  I believe this to be the 1954 publication, but not certain.
$10 Good ex-library hardback of the 1954 copyright renewal with all the associated markings and stamps, but fortunately the body of the book is tight and clean.
book jacketThis is the British version of Gay Neck, with as you can see a completely different title.  Not uncommon really for books published in different countries to have different tittles. Don't know why, and probably not smart, but just is.
$27  1988 Mint hard back and jacket.

Pigeon Post Arthur Ransome

book jacketArthur Ransome continues the story of the swallows and amazons in this wonderful book. Once again we find ourselves lost in the world of adventure that Ransome created. Pigeon Post follows the explorers in their search for a lost gold mine. Braving danger in the mines, and a mysterious stranger dogging their heels, our adventurers continue to enthrall the readers of this informative and entertaining series for children [and adults] of all ages.
$18 Mint paperback no jacket, 382 pages
Victoria: The Biography of a Pigeon Alice Renton
book jacketThe author tells a story so likely to capture, and keep readers' hearts that it should be read by everyone. Alice and her daughter found Victoria huddled against a pillar during rush hour in London's crowded Victoria Station-a homely unfledged pigeon who had fallen from the girders. Scooping her up, they ran for their train, not anticipating what they were letting themselves in for-wholesale manipulation by one boldly insouciant little bird.

Written as Alice's diary, the city bird's sojourn in the country describes the transformation of the ugly duckling into a glossy beauty who, true to her urban ancestry, thrived on noise and excitement. Victoria became a reckless flyer, a music buff (preferring Mozart, Haydn, and rock), and an irresistibly affectionate companion, who soon had everyone-including the cat, the dogs, and the neighbors-in her power.

I challenge all, not to fall in love with Victoria, and mourn at the ending

The Mighty Pigeon Club Daniel San Soug Souci

The Mighty Pigeon Club cover.  Click for larger image

Arthur tells us that homing pigeons save lives and deliver secret messages. He says they were war heroes and can find their way home from hundreds of miles from home, and that they can even win prizes, including money at the local fair.  And so they start a club with all that youthful exuberance.  But when he gives the club his flock, the other members soon learn that taking care of pigeons is a lot of work. Scooping up pigeon poop is just plain messy and the club members soon tried to find the way out of these - well messy chores.

A mint copy of this colorful hardback published in 2007.

$17 mint hardback copy with printed boards and dust jacket. 19

Chester Cricket's Pigeon Ride George Selden

book jacketThis is the story of Chester Cricket's tour of Manhattan riding on the back of his friend Lulu Pigeon.  He gets a bird's eye view of all the famous sights, from the Empire State Building to Central Park, and we do too, through both words and charming illustrations.  It's fun to see New York through the eyes of the animals who live there, and who consider themselves New Yorkers.  This is a good book for reading out loud. 
$8 Paperback / Published 1983, Excellent.

A pigeon and a boy Meir Shaley

book jacketFinally a great novel for adults where pigeons play a grand role. From the clever mind of Meir Shaley comes a mesmerizing novel of two love stories, separated by half a century but connected by one enchanting act of devotion and unrelenting yearning for home.
During the 1948 War of Independence--a time when pigeons are still used to deliver battlefield messages--a gifted young pigeon handler is mortally wounded. In the moments before his death, he dispatches one last pigeon. The bird is carrying his extraordinary gift to the girl he learned to love while they both learned to love their pigeons.

Intertwined with this story is the contemporary tale of Yair, a middle-aged Israeli tour guide favored with bird watchers, who has his own legacy from the 1948 war, but is about to learn much, much more. He learns that one of his American clients fought in the area during Israel's 1948 war of independence. The American remembers, piece by piece, the day when a homing pigeon handler, nicknamed Baby, was killed and in his final moments, sent off one last pigeon. As the story unfolds, Yair begins learns the mystery engulfing his life.

Unforgettable in both its particulars and its sweep, A Pigeon and A Boy is a tale of how deeply we love, of what home is, and why we, like pigeons desire to fly in that one direction only, and give all to eventually return to it. Meir Shalev's story of war, love and the longing for place uses pigeons as an integral part of the story, and explores the unique relationship between pigeons and their keepers.

This story of love, war, and the most powerful pull of home, won Israel's Brenner Prize.

$19 Mint hard back with mint jacket. 21

Wringer Jerry Spinelli

Book cover, click for larger image

We know Palmer. We know peer pressure. We know the town that had yearly pigeon shoots. Palmer was unfortunate enough to live in that town and at age 10 all the young lads in town became wringers during the annual slaughter. Their job, pick up the dead and dying pigeons, wring their neck, and throw them into plastic garbage bags. What fun. Palmer's 10th birthday is coming up and it is the first time in his life he did not want to grow up. He knew he couldn't be a wringer, but he knew he could not escape. You know the story, you know the ending, but darn this is a good read.

$15 Mint hard back with mint jacket. 12oz
$10 Mint but remaindered paperback 6oz
$8 Excellent hard back with the exception that it is ex-libary. Only disfiguration is to the last end paper. Could be removed. 12oz

Blue Pigeons; Emma Gelders Sterne

Book Cover, click for larger imagecolored print, click for larger imagecolored print, click for larger imageBlue Pigeons is a charming story for young children of  ancient Greece at the beginning of the 4th Century B.C. Without attempting to go into the history of the time, it presents a delightful and accurate picture of the period. Paulus is a slave boy, rescued from the island of Chios after a Spartan invasion, who grows up with an Athenian family. The children of the household become his great friends; but, being a slave, Paulus is debarred from most of their games. Eventually, by an act of courage and endurance he wins his freedom, and even his citizenship.   Many of the famous myths and traditions are retold. The life in the harbor and in the hills, the festivals and processions of the Acropolis are described. Socrates and Lysander appear. It is an excellent and charming introductory glimpse, for any child, of the spirit of classic Greece and the role pigeons played even then.
$32 Excellent hardback with some minor foxing on end paper with a rather poor jacket. Very nice colored prints. First edition, 1929 123pp.

Young RufflesE. Ge. Thorpe

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Pigeons and PeoplesMildred and John Teal

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$24 Ex-libary both book and jacket are in Very good condition

Pigeon Summer (AKA) SpeedwellAnn Turnbull

book jacket Pigeon Summer British version of SpeedwellSpeedwell, the United States name of Pigeon Summer the story of Mary, a young girl living in England during the Great Depression. She helps her father raise homing pigeons and train them to race, and she dreams that one day one of their birds will win a race. But her father loses his job, and has to go to another village to find work. Mary tries to carry on training the pigeons alone, in spite of her mother's disdain for the birds. Eventually, their differing points of view lead to a crisis during which Mary and her mother learn to be more tolerant and understanding of each other. This is a charming book with lots of accurate details about raising and training racing pigeons.
$18  Mint paperback, 119 pages. 3

SpeedwellAnn Turnbull

book jacketSpeedwell, the United States name of Pigeon Summer the story of Mary, a young girl living in England during the Great Depression. She helps her father raise homing pigeons and train them to race, and she dreams that one day one of their birds will win a race. But her father loses his job, and has to go to another village to find work. Mary tries to carry on training the pigeons alone, in spite of her mother's disdain for the birds. Eventually, their differing points of view lead to a crisis during which Mary and her mother learn to be more tolerant and understanding of each other. This is a charming book with lots of accurate details about raising and training racing pigeons.
$17 Mint hard back with mint jacket, 1992 first edition , 119 pages. 12

The Poor Pigeon Ann Thwaite

book's cover. Good ex library hardback. Quite unexpected a pigeon flies into Bob's house, and of course his life.
$14 7oz

Tales of a Common PigeonSara Weeks: Illustated by Eric von Schmidt

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Children's tale of a highly personable group of animals & birds that inhabit Boston Common. Illustrated with B&W drawings by Eric von Schmidt. Children's, Boston.


$22 Very good Hardback

The Language of Doves Rosemary Wells, Greg Shed (Illustrator)

book jacketWells' latest picture book seamlessly entwines stories from two generations. Julietta loves spending time on the rooftop of her Italian grandfather's Brooklyn building, where he keeps his homing pigeons. On her sixth birthday, Grandfather rewards her with Isabella, a "dove" of her own, and tells her the poignant World War I story of Isabella's namesake, who, though wounded, found her way home with a message that saved the lives of eight men. The touching, sentimental story, about death (for both animals and people) and about hope, speaks to subjects little known to children, who will probably be as unaware of homing pigeons as they are of the circumstances of the Great War. Shed's paintings, suffused with misty yellow light, leaven the sadness of Grandfather's inevitable death and provide a wispy scrim from which to better appreciate both the history and the sentiment. When Julietta's own Isabella finds its way home after being lost, the story comes full circle.
$17 Published 1996, Mint hardback and cover. 15

 

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the BusMo Willems

book's cover.Mo Willems is a five-time Emmy Award winning writer and animator for Sesame Street. This is his first book for children and a great read-a-long. It is a Caldecott Honor Book.
$15 Mint

The Pigeon Has Feelings Too?Mo Willems

book's cover.This read-a-long type book for children is really intended to be a first book for a child. The pages are very thick card type telling the story of how the bus driver gets the pigeon to smile.
$12Mint 7oz

The ScandaroonHenry Williamson

book's cover.This is a story set near the docks in Devon harbor where one Sam Baggott finds Scandaroon, being a breed of of homing pigeons from the Baltic from where the ship had been. Near mint, jacket clipped

$12 12oz

Peter and the PigeonsCharlotte Zolotow

book's cover.Peter goes to the zoo, but already has a love for pigeons as they fly free. And even after seeing all the animals he decides that he still likes the pigeons best.
$13 1Mint witn mint jacket 13oz
The last Passenger James Ralph Johnson
cover Tells the story of the passenger pigeons from a particular Passenger Pigeon's point of few.