40 Fun Facts About Shiloh (Novel)

In the novel Shiloh, what breed is the timid hunting dog that follows Marty Preston home?

Beagle is the breed, one of several hunting dogs Judd Travers keeps. Beagles are scent hounds, used mainly for tracking rabbits.

Which award, the top prize in American children's books, did the novel Shiloh win in 1992?

The Newbery Medal went to Shiloh as a dark horse. One committee member called it a sleeper that surfaced as a serious contender only deep in the debate.

In Shiloh, what kind of animal leaps into the dog's hiding place one night and badly hurts him?

A German shepherd gets in and mauls him. Marty is left feeling that his rescue has hurt the dog worse than its owner ever did.

In Shiloh, which crime does Marty see Judd Travers commit, giving the boy leverage to win the dog?

Poaching a deer out of season meant a stiff fine Judd could not afford. Marty trades his silence and twenty hours of work for the dog, then worries he has put other animals at risk.

Shiloh is set in which American mountain region, whose folk music gave rise to bluegrass?

Appalachia shapes how the book sounds: Marty and his family speak the region's West Virginia dialect, often dropping the subject of a sentence.

The 1996 film of Shiloh is set in the West Virginia hills, but in which state was it actually shot?

California stood in for the hills. The film, budgeted at under $2 million, was shot in 30 days at Topanga.

Which 1940 novel has been compared with Shiloh, as both dogs keep running back to a boy?

Lassie Come-Home, by Eric Knight, also has an upright father who tries to talk his son out of keeping a dog that belongs to someone else.

The fourth book about Marty and Shiloh, published in 2015, is named for which holiday?

Christmas gives the fourth book its title, A Shiloh Christmas. It arrived 18 years after the third, and 200,000 copies were printed.

Which Mark Twain novel, a favorite of Shiloh's author, is echoed when Marty risks hell for a dog?

Huckleberry Finn chooses hell rather than betray Jim, and Marty likewise decides he would sooner be damned for lying than give up the dog.

In Shiloh, where does Marty hide the dog after it runs away from Judd Travers a second time?

A pen in the woods, built of wire with a shelter against rain, keeps the dog out of sight of both his owner and Marty's own family.

In Shiloh, what does Marty do that finally makes the cowering dog rush over and lick his face?

He whistles, and the dog that ignored a spoken call comes running. It then trails him all the way to his house.

In Shiloh, what job takes Marty's father on a daily route past the homes of his rural neighbors?

Mail carrier is the job, and it backfires on Marty. Once word spreads that the family is short of food, neighbors leave groceries in their boxes for his father.

In the novel Shiloh, which character, a doctor for people, not animals, stitches up the wounded dog?

Doc Murphy cleans and stitches the wounds and says the next 24 hours will decide whether the dog lives. Marty insists on paying the fee himself.

In Shiloh, which best friend of Marty, an only child from a bigger house, finds the dog's hideout?

David Howard is asked to keep the secret too. His mother, a teacher, has unknowingly been giving Marty extra food that ends up with the dog.

In Shiloh, what does Marty decide should settle who owns a dog, against his parents' view?

Who loves it has the better claim, Marty decides. His parents hold that a dog belongs to whoever paid for it, however it is treated.

In Shiloh, what does Judd Travers say his signed deal with Marty lacks, making the paper worthless?

A witness never signed, Judd points out. Marty keeps turning up to finish his hours anyway, and that stubbornness slowly earns the man's respect.

In Shiloh, what does Judd Travers hand Marty on the last day of chores, a sign the dog is his?

An old collar comes with news Marty had stopped expecting. Judd announces that the dog is his, and the whole family is overjoyed.

In Shiloh, what does Marty learn about Judd Travers's childhood that helps explain his cruelty?

He was beaten as a boy, from the age of four, by his own father. Nobody stepped in to rescue him, so he cannot see why people fuss over a dog.

In Shiloh, which sister of Marty owns the chocolate Easter rabbit whose ear he secretly bites off?

Dara Lynn hears his confession in the end. His mother's talk of Jesus watching weighs on Marty until he owns up, an early lesson in how lying feels.

Which real West Virginia town, the postal address of the author's friends, is the setting of Shiloh?

Friendly is a real Tyler County town whose population was just 100 at the 2020 census. The friends were a couple named Madden.

In Shiloh, what career does Marty dream of, though his father warns the training costs too much?

Veterinarian is the dream. When the cost of the schooling sinks in, Marty tells himself he could settle for being an assistant to one instead.

In Shiloh, which relative's care takes the spare money of Marty's family, leaving none for a pet?

A grandmother is the reason. The Prestons have enough to feed five people, but every spare dollar goes to nursing Marty's ailing grandma.

In which verb tense does Marty tell most of the story of Shiloh, in his own West Virginia voice?

The present puts readers inside each choice as Marty faces it. Only the opening and closing passages slip into the past.

In the novel Shiloh, what is the runaway dog named after once Marty Preston takes him in?

The place he was found is a real spot on the map. Shiloh is a small Tyler County community on Middle Island Creek.

The author of Shiloh also wrote which often-banned book series about a motherless girl growing up?

Alice grows older from book to book, and the series' frank treatment of adolescence made it one of the most challenged of the early 2000s.

The author of Shiloh wrote sequels after seeing which reaction from young readers to Judd Travers?

Hatred of Judd surprised her, so the later books let readers watch him wrestle with hard moral choices, just as Marty does.

In Shiloh, what must Marty promise before his mother will keep his secret from his father for a day?

Not to run away with the dog is her one condition. It is the first secret she has ever kept from her husband, and the couple quarrel over it later.

In Shiloh, Marty dislikes Judd Travers partly because he once watched him cheat which local figure?

The storekeeper was cheated, and Marty explains that in his community people tend to keep out of each other's business.

In Shiloh, what ailment does Marty invent for his mother so his best friend will not come to visit?

Bad headaches come back to haunt him. His mother returns from town puzzled that so many people have asked how her head is feeling.

In Shiloh, what new habit of Marty's makes his mother suspicious enough to follow him up the hill?

Saving half his meals, with the excuse that he will be hungry later, feeds the dog but leaves Marty himself going short.

In Shiloh, what new pet does Marty's best friend show off while Marty keeps quiet about his own?

A hermit crab strikes Marty as a fair first pet, though he privately decides it cannot compare with a dog.

What have some parents and censors objected to in Shiloh, a complaint its author publicly rejected?

Mild swearing by Judd drew an angry letter from the parents of a ten-year-old. Naylor answered that some people do speak crudely and no reader can be shielded forever.

By one critic's account, what does the 1996 film of Shiloh change about the novel's Preston family?

It makes them well-off, swapping the novel's worn four-room house for a handsome two-story one, so the fight over the dog is no longer about money.

The real towns named in Shiloh sit in a West Virginia county that borders which major river?

The Ohio forms the edge of Tyler County, where two of the story's real towns, Sistersville and Middlebourne, can still be found on a road map.

In Shiloh, what reason does Judd Travers give for keeping his chained dogs thin and hungry?

So they hunt better is his excuse, but the chained, underfed dogs turn mean and fight among themselves.

In Shiloh, how does Judd Travers greet the runaway dog when Marty and his father first return him?

He kicks him at once for running off, and Marty leaves feeling he has betrayed the dog.

At what time of year does Shiloh unfold, over just a few weeks in the West Virginia hills?

Summer frames the whole story, and that tight span keeps the reader's attention fixed on Marty's moral crisis rather than on sweeping action.

In Shiloh, what does Marty go out collecting, hoping to earn enough to buy the dog from Judd?

Empty cans bring in almost nothing. Times are hard, few are thrown away, and there is no paid job to be found.

Shiloh is set in West Virginia, but in which Midwestern state was its author born?

Indiana is her birthplace, in the town of Anderson. She grew up in the Great Depression with few toys but parents who read aloud every night.

Shiloh won the Sequoyah Children's Book Award on the votes of over 60,000 pupils in which state?

Oklahoma children in third to sixth grade chose it from 23 nominees, one of several state awards the book won by young readers' votes.