Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

 

Title: Shiloh

Author: Phyllis Reynold Naylor

Illustrator: None

Genre: Children's Novel

Major Awards: Newbery Honor Award

Ages: 8-12 Years old

Summary:

This is a story about an eleven year old boy name Marty Preston, who lives in a small town of West Virginia. Marty lives with his parents and his two sisters. As Marty walks in the woods near his house, he discovers a beagle dog. When the dog saw Marty, he followed Marty on his way home. Marty named the beagle dog, Shiloh. When Marty's father finds out that Marty owned a dog, he told Marty to return it to his original owner, Judd Travers, immediately. His father would insist to return the dog back to its formal owner, but Marty keeps on lying to his dad. Judd Travers, however is an owner who owned several hunting dogs, and he mistreats all his dogs poorly. Marty does not want to return Shiloh to his formal owner. Instead, Marty secretly keeps Shiloh in the woods, where Marty builds a wire pen specifically for the dog to stay. One night, Shiloh encounters with a German Shepherd in the woods, and Shiloh gets attack by it. When, Marty finds out he takes Shiloh to the Vet. As Shiloh recovers, Marty's family gets attach to Shiloh, and Judd Travers finds out that Marty had his dog all along. Judd Travers wants Shiloh back as soon as he recovers, but Marty tries to find ways to keep Shiloh with him. So, he confronts Judd for himself. Judd and Marty negotiates the dog, where Marty will have to work for the dog for forty-dollars by working the twenty hours for Judd. Marty works so hard for Shiloh, despite that Judd tries to find ways to object Marty's work. After, working for two weeks for Judd, Marty and his family keeps Shiloh in the end. 

Book Evaluation:

1) This was a very sweet story, in which emphasizes how important it is to not lose hope, therefore I would recommend this book to my students. I know many students will be able to relate to Marty because many of them may have dogs or if not another pet that they may be attached to.

2) I would recommend this book for the third graders all the way to the seventh graders.

3) I would use this book in the unit of Reading. I would have them work on a worksheet afterwards, in which testes their reading comprehension.