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Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is a Newberry Medal winner and the beginning of a series about a beloved dog and a young boy, Marty Preston. I chose it for today’s “Timeless Thursday” because animal stories, especially well-written ones, are always a big hit with kids. This book, which I taught in a fifth-grade classroom, was a big hit with boys. Many of them were very upset at the treatment of Shiloh. Many of them can’t help talking and journaling about their own pets while reading Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s classic.

Don’t worry about Shiloh being outdated or not relating to today’s generation. It does. You can read this book out loud to students or use it in literature circles. While reading, discuss the themes of love, loyalty, friendship, honesty, and integrity. Discuss the characters of Marty and Judd Travers, and compare and contrast them. Let students make personal connections between the ideas in the story and in their own lives. You can do these same skills at home if you homeschool.

If your students love Shiloh, then they might want to check out Shiloh’s Season, too.

Grace and I are going to Beijing and Shanghai with a few friends for about two weeks. I'm leaving for the airport in a few minutes, and since I missed my day to post last week, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to post next week while in China, I thought I'd just drop a quick note.

Grace has made a commitment to herself to post from China every day, so check her personal blog for updates. I'll try to post as much as possible as well from my blog.

And now, I'll leave you with some picture from my new office. As you loyal blog readers know, my company moved into a new building last Spring, and the new building has an internal atrium that's quite cool. My office has a window to the atrium. Anna was visiting a week ago and helped me take a few pictures: