DATE: Sunday, October 5, 1997               TAG: 9710040061

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIC SUNDQUIST, PILOT FEATURES EDITOR 

                                            LENGTH:  143 lines

READ ALONG WITH SERIAL VERSION OF ``SHILOH'' AWARD-WINNING STORY OF A BOY AND A DOG IS PERFECT FOR KIDS, PARENTS

BEGINNING THIS week, The Virginian-Pilot will publish, in serial form, the acclaimed children's novel ``Shiloh.''

The book will appear in The Daily Break, one chapter at a time, on Tuesdays and Thursdays until Nov. 25.

Published in 1991, ``Shiloh'' is the story of a West Virginia boy who faces moral dilemmas when he tries to protect a dog from its cruel owner. ``Shiloh'' has proved popular with both readers and critics - it won a Newbery Medal - and author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has two sequels in print.

The Pilot bought serial rights to the book in order to provide more material for younger readers and their parents. The chapters are short enough for children and parents to read together. And the story is both simple and sophisticated, so children and adults can enjoy it alone.

The Pilot will provide several related activities, as well:

A contest will accompany each chapter. Readers will be invited to answer questions about the book, via the paper's Infoline phone service. Each Tuesday and Thursday, one caller with the correct answers will be chosen to win a $25 gift certificate for a local shopping mall.

A guide to ``Shiloh'' for teachers and parents is available. It is designed so that pages can be copied and used for classroom exercises. Teachers may call the paper's Newspapers in Education program at 446-2447 or 446-2439. Others may pick up copies, while the supply lasts, at Pilot offices in Hampton Roads and Northeastern North Carolina.

On the Internet, Pilot Online will host forums for readers to discuss ``Shiloh.'' Net surfers may go to Pilot Online's Fun page, starting Tuesday, at www.pilotonline.com.

Author Naylor lives in Bethesda, Md. She met the dog who is the book's title character during a visit to West Virginia.

Naylor was certain that the dog had been abused, she tells a Pilot reporter in a story accompanying the first chapter Tuesday.

She thought: ``What if I knew who was abusing it? What if I knew who it belonged to? What if the dog kept running to me? Then, if you write for children, you think about what if I was 11 years old?''

Those questions led Naylor, who had previously written more than 60 books, to undertake ``Shiloh.''

Here's an excerpt from the first chapter. The narrator is 11-year-old Marty Preston:

My favorite place to walk is just across this rattly bridge where the road curves by the old Shiloh schoolhouse and follows the river. River to one side, trees the other - sometimes a house or two.

And this particular afternoon, I'm about halfway up the road along the river when I see something out of the corner of my eye. Something moves. I look, and about fifteen yards off, there's this shorthaired dog - white with brown and black spots - not making any kind of noise, just slinking along with this head down, watching me, tail between his legs like he's hardly got the right to breathe. A beagle, maybe a year or two old.

I stop and the dog stops. Looks like he's been caught doing something awful, when I can tell all he really wants is to follow along beside me. ``Here, boy,'' I say, slapping my thigh.

Dog goes down on his stomach, groveling about in the grass. I laugh and start over toward him. He's got an old worn-out collar on, probably older than he is. Bet it belonged to another dog before him. ``C'mon, boy,'' I say, putting out my hand.

The dog gets up and backs off. He don't even whimper, like he's lost his bark.

Something really hurts inside you when you see a dog cringe like that. You know somebody's been kicking at him. Beating on him, maybe.

``It's okay, boy,'' I say, coming a little closer, but still he backs off.

Incidentally, the real dog's name is Clover. Naylor's friend took her in, and she's been something of a celebrity in that part of West Virginia. Clover is aged now and spends most of her time resting. MEMO: The chapters are available daily in The Virginian-Pilot only. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic with drawing by JANET SHAUGHNESSY, The

Virginian-Pilot

``SHILOH'': The serial

What: ``Shiloh,'' by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Newbery Medal

winner, first published in 1991.

Where: In The Daily Break, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from Oct. 7 to

Nov. 25.

Contest: Answer questions with each installment to win $25 gift

certificates.

On the web: ``Shiloh'' forums on Pilot Online, starting Tuesday.

Teachers' and parents' guide: Available at Pilot offices. (List,

page EX.)

Information for teachers: 446-2447.

Graphic

GET YOUR ``SHILOH'' GUIDE

Readers may pick up copies of The Pilot's guide to ``Shiloh'' for

teachers and parents, while supplies last, at these locations in

Hampton Roads and Northeastern North Carolina. (All times are Monday

through Friday, except production plant, which is open 24 hours.)

Production plant

5429 Greenwich Road

Virginia Beach

open 24 hours

150 W. Brambleton Ave.

Norfolk

Front desk: 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Back issues office: 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Chesapeake bureau

921 N. Battlefield Blvd.

Noon to 5 p.m.

Franklin business office

309 N. Main St.

8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Portsmouth bureau

307 County St.

Suite 100

9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tri-City business office

3945 Twin Pines Road

Portsmouth

8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Suffolk bureau

157 N. Main Street

Suite B

9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Virginia Beach bureau

4565 Virginia Beach Blvd.

8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Ahoskie bureau

216 E. Church St.

6 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Elizabeth City bureau

303 E. Main Street

8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Nags Head bureau

2224 S. Croatan Highway

8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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