1992 Newbery winner, Shiloh, by Phyllis Renolds Naylor is about a 11 year-old-boy named Marty Preston who discovers an abused beagle in the woods near the old Shiloh schoolhouse. Marty names the beagle Shiloh, although he knows his poor West Virginia family can’t afford to keep and feed a dog. When Shiloh escapes a second time from their cruel neighbor, Judd Travers, Marty decides to hide Shiloh in the woods and keep him as a secret dog. The rest of novel explores themes of conflicting obligations and values within families and communities.
What I liked / What was interesting. Reading this book as an adult, I was most drawn into the relationship between Marty and his parents. In particular, I enjoyed the way that his parents cared for him, while balancing the demands of making ends meet. As an adult, I understand more about what would be at stake to make a feud with a neighbor over a dog. I have been blessed with pretty good neighbors, but even pretty good neighbors can impinge on your life with loud music at 2 am (every night when you have a newborn), or build a fence down their property line (so the spot you could have parked a car in is now too small), or have a loose a pit bull that bites you (when you’re 9 months pregnant).
I think that one of the strengths of Shiloh is that it helps kids wade into morally complex problems. Stealing property and lying is bad, but so is allowing abuse to be unchecked. Judd Travers is one of the most horribly menacing bad guys in children’s books, but in the end, Marty learns to have a little compassion for Judd, and Judd has a little respect for Marty.
I think in a world where injustice can feel so huge and systemic and unchangeable, the little note in the back from the author that she saw a dog in West Virginia who was abused and neglected, and she wrote this story to give that dog a good ending, fills me with hope. It makes me think of the power of that one forgotten nameless dog, and this one author who couldn’t look away. Together, they created this story that has captured the hearts of children for nearly 30 years, helping them be braver and more compassionate and believe that injustice can be faced.
What were some limitations / What it teaches me as a writer. This is not really a limitation of this book, as much as it was a limitation of my memory of the book from when I read the book in fourth grade, 25 years ago. I knew that I liked the book (who doesn’t like to have a secret, private, sweet dog!) but I had it a bit mixed up with my memories of Where the Red Ferns Grow and other stories of beloved characters who die at the end, like Bridge to Terabithia which I also read that fourth grade year.
So I was bracing myself for Shiloh to die (spoiler, he does not die) and the tension in the beginning of the novel with all the lying to his parents and the horrible, terrible, antagonist of Judd Travers had me cringing. I thought if the beginning of the book was this tense, how on earth was I going to survive an ending where Shiloh died! That would have been way too much for a child to bear, and certainly too much for it to be a beloved book.
So what that reminds me of as a writer, especially of children’s books, is that children can deal with a few hard things in a novel, as long as there is enough of a runway of safe relationships to process the hard things before or after they happen. In Shiloh, the most dramatic relational tension is before Marty’s parents know about Shiloh, but once that secret is out, then there are adults there to help Marty navigate the tricky situation. That’s not to say there weren’t other moments of danger and bravery. There were, and the ending of this book was strong and (surprisingly) redemptive.
In contrast, the death in a book like Bridge to Terabithia is later in the book after a period of almost idyllic friendship between Jesse and Leslie. The memory of that friendship, in combination with how that death brings Jesse’s parents into stronger connection, allows the reader to handle the death.
Similarity to other Newbery winners. Shiloh is one of the most famous Newbery dogs, and is the third eponymous Newbery winner after Sounder and Ginger Pye. He also joins Bandit (from Dear Mr. Henshaw) Prince Terrien (from Bridge to Terabithia), Nick (from Adam of the Road), Uri (from Call it Courage), and Fortinbras (from Wrinkle In Time). Several Newberies have dogs dying as major plot points too like Cafall (from The Grey King), and Ramo (from Island of the Blue Dolphins) and Sounder. Interestingly, all these dogs are male dogs.
Have you read Shiloh? What are your favorite books about dogs?
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