Shiloh

Literary fiction

First published: 1991
Print length: 137 pagesAladdin Paperbacks, 2000

Newbery Medal, 1992

Description

Eleven-year-old Marty Preston finds a stray beagle near his home in Friendly, West Virginia, and names him Shiloh. The dog belongs to Judd Travers, a hard-drinking man whose mistreatment makes Marty fear for Shiloh’s safety. Forced to return the animal, Marty later hides him in a woodland pen and secretly provides food, even as the deception strains his family’s trust. Protecting Shiloh requires Marty to break rules he has been taught to respect, while surrendering him means permitting abuse to continue. He eventually tries to negotiate with Judd and earn the money to buy the dog. The novel grounds its human-animal bond in a difficult moral question: how far may a child go when legality, honesty, and compassion demand different choices?

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Conversational · Descriptive · Direct

Pace

Moderate

Tone

Earnest · Hopeful · Tense · Warm

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Plot · Relationships

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 1 / 5
Ideas: 2 / 5
Structure: 1 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

Coming of ageFamilyFriendshipGuiltJusticeMorality

About Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is an American writer of children’s and young adult fiction whose work moves easily among moral realism, Gothic suspense, and comic mystery. She generally builds stories around young people confronting problems that test judgment, loyalty, and trust, using direct, accessible prose and strong narrative momentum. Her best-known novel, the Newbery Medal-winning Shiloh, turns a boy’s effort to protect a mistreated dog into a conflict between conscience, honesty, and family responsibility. Naylor’s long-running Alice series takes a different approach, following its central character as she grows older and addressing ordinary adolescence, including sex, with a candor that has also made the books frequent targets of challenges. Her range extends to the haunted-house atmosphere of Jade Green and the dialogue-driven wit of Bernie Magruder & the Bats in the Belfry. Across these modes, Naylor treats children’s fears and ethical uncertainties as substantial subjects while keeping character and plot closely joined.

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks
Language: English
ISBN: 9780689835834

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