Shiloh Chapter Summary

“A moving and powerful look at the best and the worst of human nature”. Shiloh is a children’s novel by American writer Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. She was born on January 4, 1933, in Anderson, Indiana and she is best known for her children’s and young adult fiction. Her most known works are Shiloh quartet and her Alice book series. The first novel of the Shiloh quartet was published in 1991 and, one year later, in 1992 it won the Newbery Medal. Shiloh is the first novel of a quartet composed by Shiloh Season, Saving Shiloh, and A Shiloh Christmas published in 1996, 1997, and 2015 respectively.

Naylor decided to write Shiloh after an emotionally hard experience in West Virginia where she encountered an abused dog. Therefore, during an interview

The dog follows him home and then Marty names him Shiloh. Shiloh's real owner is Judd Travers, who owns several hunting dogs. Fearing for the dog's safety because Judd drinks and treats his dogs poorly, Marty does not want to return Shiloh. Marty’s father insists that Shiloh must be returned to his owner and so they take the dog to Judd. Few days later, Shiloh returns to Marty who hides him from his family in the woods in a cage that he builds. During a night, Shiloh is attacked by a dog and his family discovers Marty has been hiding the dog. After taking the dog to the doctor of the town, the family decide to return the dog to the owner by

He is a 11 years old boy who lives with his parents and his two sisters. He enjoys the hills on the sides of his house and the animals that live there.

Marty is a dynamic character, therefore he changes during the course of the novel due to his experiences and actions.

Marty's dad, Ray Preston, works hard at his job as a postal carrier. He is a proud man who values truth and honesty, he minds his own business and he respects other people and their privacy.

Judd Travers is a mean man who lives alone not far from Marty’s home. He is dishonest, rude, and insensitive. He thinks he is above the law and abuses his dogs kicking and not feeding them when they have done something he dislikes. Judd was abused by his father when he was as a child. Since no one ever felt sorry for him he never felt sorry for anyone else.

This novel has various themes. The major themes are abuse and love, relationships between animals and humans and the importance of family and friends.

The story starts with the abuse on Shiloh and only in the end it reveals that when Judd was a child he was abused too. Because he was not helped during his childhood, he has difficulty in understand why Marty wants to recue the