Book Review: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1991)

One day, in the hills behind his house in West Virginia, Marty Preston finds a beagle and falls in love with him. Unfortunately, the dog belongs to Judd Travers, a neighbor with so little compassion for the animals he owns he doesn't even give them names. Moved by pity, Marty gives the dog a name, Shiloh, and despite warnings from his parents to mind his own business, becomes actively involved in trying to save the dog from his sad living situation.

Like The One and Only Ivan, this is a book I avoided for a long time because it seemed like it might be a Very Special Animal Story. As it turns out, though, whereas I think of Ivan as animal rights propaganda for kids, Shiloh is much more open-ended in its treatment of the subject matter, raising questions without easy answers and allowing the reader to contemplate their implications on her own. Though on some level this is a typical "boy and his dog" story, it is just as much an exploration of morality that asks kids to think about situations in which right and wrong might not seem so black and white and to evaluate the decisions Marty makes to determine whether he does the right thing by interfering in Judd's life to save the dog he loves.

I really enjoyed Naylor's writing in this book, and Peter MacNicol's narration of the audiobook really helped me to get into Marty's voice and into the story in general. Though I am neither a dog owner nor interested in becoming one, I was fully invested in this story and really wanted Shiloh and Marty to end up together. Though I think this book will still mainly appeal to dog lovers, it is a well-written story that any young reader can enjoy, even the ones who are typically sensitive to sad dog books. (Obviously, because there are sequels to this book,  it is clear that this is not a dead dog story. If you need to know whether Shiloh eventually dies before investing in the entire series, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor kindly answers that question on her website.)