Saving Shiloh

I would like to apologize for my absence. My oldest daughter's birthday was Memorial Day and we took her to Chicago for a portion of the weekend to have some fun. I confess, I had books with me and even a laptop, but I finally let myself off the hook. Then, when we returned, I was just plain exhausted and had plenty to catch up with around the house. Then, the 2010 Summer Reading Program - Book a Trip: READ! started and I'm lucky if I can remember where I'm supposed to be when. To top it off, we decided to throw in a dance recital at the end of this week along with dress rehearsal and the requisite extra practices. I've been writing on a daily basis to get into the habit. Maybe now, I can slow down and write on a more reasonable basis ...

Here are a trilogy of books that I love to hate. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor won the Newbery Medal in 1992 and won the 1994 Rebecca Caudill Award so there was no way that I was getting out of reading it. I'm surprised I didn't read it twice. I'm more of a Gordon Korman's No More Dead Dogs kind of girl. That is not to say that Shiloh dies ... he lives on to star in two more books. But I've never enjoyed reading books or watching movies where an animal suffers.

I was thrown for a loop the evening my then 2nd-grader came home from school and announced that her teacher was reading Shiloh out loud to the class. The teacher went on to read all three books. I had found the book to be too graphic for myself and my daughter has a tender heart. But librarians can learn too. Gabi loved the book and I give the author new respect.

The Decatur Public Schools received a grant to use iPod Nanos for listening to audio books. One of our Children's librarians lead a group of boys from the Phoenix Academy in listening to and discussing the novel. They also loved it. I find it amazing that two very different groups of kids (my 7-year-old, sheltered, white girl and 10-year-old, troubled African-American boys) could find pleasure in the same book.

My guess is that you have already read this book. If you are among the few who haven't, it is a modern classic. The title character is an abused beagle. Eleven-year-old Marty finds the beagle and wants to keep it, but his parents require that he returns it to the owner, Judd Travers, where more abuse is certain to follow. The beagle runs away from Judd and returns to Marty. Marty decides to hide the dog he calls Shiloh. The moral dilemma is whether he should do the right thing and return the dog to a wrong situation or do the wrong thing and keep the dog in safety. This book would not be so well-loved if did not have the compassionate ending.

The second book in the trilogy is Shiloh Season and it was a 1999 Caudill Nominee. I'll mention here that a convincing West Virginia rural dialect is used in these books. You can practically hear Marty. I know that the librarian leading the iPod Nano group was concerned that it was so believable it wasn't necessarily a good influence on her kids. But I think it was decided that it was more important that they were enjoying the book.

The second book isn't as good as the first, but anyone who loved Shiloh the beagle will want to know what happened to him. Marty earned Shiloh by working for Judd Travers, but now Judd is teasing Marty about taking him back. It doesn't help that Judd is drinking more heavily than usual and when he drinks, he is more abusive.

Marty is his same old self, struggling between doing what is right and protecting the dog he loves. In the end, he aims to help Judd because the compassion might transfer to the beagle.

Finally, Saving Shiloh was a 2000 Caudill Nominee and the reason why I bring the three of them up today. The trilogy began with a boy, Marty, trying to save the life of a dog, Shiloh. A dog that did not know love or kindness, but only abuse. Now, it is obvious that the books are about a man who is in much need of saving. Judd Travers has never known love or kindness, but only the violence that the men in his family were known for. As Shiloh needed to be reconditioned to trust the hand of a human, Judd needs to learn to trust the compassion that is shown to him little by little by Marty and his family.

The town of Friendly, West Virginia does not trust Judd. They don't believe there is a good bone in his body. They do not see that he could be redeemed. With multiple reported robberies and a vanishing followed by a body, all eyes look to Judd. Marty tries to stand up for Judd and his newfound ways, but even Marty begins to doubt as the evidence piles up. Perhaps it is up to Shiloh the beagle to redeem Judd.

Shiloh has the joined the ranks of classic stories of a boy and his dog. We have Lassie and Old Yeller. Sounder and Where the Wild Fern Grows. If you have the heart to give to these books or are willing to use a box of tissues, they are more than worth the heartache and tears. But I will always side with No More Dead Dogs!