I’ve chosen to read Shiloh
for our literary circle discussions this week. I read it once when I was in
elementary school, probably right after it came out, so it’s interesting to
reread it and see what pops up from my memory. One thing I definitely didn’t
remember was the word “shadbush.” So, to enrich my vocabulary, I decided to investigate
the term. “Shadbush” refers to a small tree whose clusters of white flowers
bloom early in the spring season. For a more complete description, I encourage
you to visit the Chesapeake Bay
Field Guide website.
As summarizer, before I explain what happens in the first
five chapters, I’ll say that it doesn’t take Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, author of
Shiloh, long to get us into her plot.
By the third page, we’ve met the main characters: Marty and Shiloh, and by the
second chapter, she’s identified the main conflict: Marty wants to keep Shiloh
away from his owner. When he’s out shooting one Sunday afternoon near his
Friendly, West Virginia house, eleven-year-old Marty Preston meets a dog that
decides to follow him home. Marty doesn’t know where the dog (“Shiloh”) came
from and wants to take care of it, but his father says no. Dad says he thinks
that Shiloh belongs to Judd Travers, a neighbor who has the reputation of being
a fast-talking, mean, cheater of a man who kills deer out of season (a very
clear and specific characterization from Naylor). Sure enough, when Marty and
Dad bring Shiloh back to Judd, he turns out to be Judd’s newest hunting dog.
Marty promises to keep an eye out for Shiloh and return him to Judd if he sees
Shiloh wandering away from the pack.
When Marty hears that Judd will “whup the daylights out of [Shiloh]”
(p. 27) if he runs away again, Marty decides to find a way to buy Shiloh from
Judd, but it proves to be a harder task than he thought. He can’t stop thinking
about how Shiloh needs his help, he can’t sleep, and he can’t forget what he’s
seen and heard about how badly Judd treats his dogs, especially Shiloh. Marty
doesn’t know how he’s going to go on, and then he hears a soft noise outside
that sounds like Shiloh. Instantly, Marty finds Shiloh outside and spirits him
away from the house and hides him in the hills near his house. Marty builds a
pen and a lean-to for Shiloh, as a place for him to be a bit protected from the
possibility of July rainstorms, and he sneaks food out of the house so that
Shiloh won’t be too hungry. Gone is the promise to return Shiloh to Judd—all
Marty cares about is protecting Shiloh. Even when Judd visits the Prestons at
the end of Chapter 5, his threat to shoot Shiloh if he ever runs away again
only strengthens Marty’s resolve that Shiloh should never go back to Judd.
As connector, I can certainly connect to Marty’s passion and
concern about keeping Shiloh safe—he may only be eleven, but he has a deep
connection to Shiloh that is similar to the love I feel for my children. They
are a part of me, and I will do everything in my power to keep them happy,
healthy, and safe—I can see the trust in their eyes when they look at me, and I
can’t let them down. I know that’s how Marty feels about Shiloh—that’s why he
can’t sleep (p. 28), why he gets so angry with Judd’s awful treatment of the
dogs (p.35), and why he’s on the verge of tears when he leaves Judd’s house
after the first visit (p. 27). In terms of connecting the book to the world,
the issue of cruelty to animals that Naylor explores here is certainly not
limited to the book or even the United States. Between the news from war-torn
countries and the ASPCA commercials,
we know that animals are abused and mistreated every day. In fact, Naylor’s
description of how little Judd cares for his animals brought those ASPCA images
to mind, and I thought how important it is to shine a light on this issue.
