Shiloh

I've had this book on my shelves for over a year, but I just wasn't sure that I wanted to read a dog story - and especially not one where I was afraid that the dog might die (I'm more than a bit like the kid in Gordon Korman's No More Dead Dogs, I guess). We had to put our very elderly and much loved dog to sleep this summer and reading Marley and Me for my book club last year already made me a sobbing mess. I really didn't want another Old Yeller experience.

But Amanda's recent post finally convinced me to pick up Shiloh when I didn't feel like reading anything else in my "to read" stack. I've noticed that good kids' or YA books really help me get out of a reading slump.

Anyway, I enjoyed Shiloh, in a quiet way. I thought that Phyllis Reynolds Naylor really captured many of the joys of having a dog, as well as a thoughtful 11 year old's perspective on some weighty moral questions. I liked how the story unfolded, the ending was entirely satisfying, and I saw lots of great possibilities for discussion (if I could ever convince my own 11 year old to read it. But at least he's reading another Gordon Korman book recommended by his teacher right now).

But somehow the book just didn't transport me or totally engage me like my favorite Newbery winners (or some children's books in general) have. I didn't have any problems setting it down at night, it didn't make me cry (spoiler alert - highlight to read: no dogs died, thankfully!) or laugh out loud, and I thought the book was perceptive but not incredibly insightful.

Maybe my standards are just really, really high. I think some of the other books I've read for this project have blown them sky high, actually. Anyway, I would recommend Shiloh, especially to 9-12 year olds, and I am glad to have read it, but I'm not going to push it towards random friends and family members insisting that they read this incredible work that will change the way they feel about kids' books or dogs or life in West Virginia.

Here's one my favorite passages about dogs from Shiloh, though, and one that struck me as very true (especially since I'm still missing my dog):

We stand out in the meadow flying the kite, and I watch the blue-and-yellow-and-green tail whipping around in the breeze, and I'm thinking about Shiloh's tail, the way it wags. You get a dog on your mind, it seems to fill up the whole space. Everything you do reminds you of that dog (p. 92).

Shiloh

Toben took the kids out for magazines at B&N and ice cream at Cold Stone, so I headed to the bathtub with a book--Shiloh, by Phllis Reynolds Naylor. This book won the Newbery in 1992.

I think I'd seen the movie based on the book, but hadn't read the book before. I knew it would be sad, and had a little knot in my stomach for much of it, because I couldn't quite remember how the story ended. I won't give it away, since you should read it for yourself!

What a great book. I finished it and thought I'd love to read it to my girls and talk about it with them because it raises some good and hard questions. When is it okay to keep a secret? Is it ever alright to lie? What do you do when what is right and what is legal aren't the same things? What does it mean to stand by your word? Can we change how other people act?

There's something about a boy and a dog...and this story tugs at your heart.

I did read the afterword first--my copy of the book has "The Story Behind the Book" at the end, complete with pictures. I always love hearing how an author came up with the idea for the novel. In this case, there is a real Shiloh (named Clover) who really did follow someone home. The rest of the story is imagined on the author's part, but both Clover and Shiloh have good endings.

By the way, the dog in this case is a beagle. And since my little beagle, Daisy, is curled up at my feet at the moment, I'd better mention that she recommends the book too!