Shiloh (novel) - Honors

Honors

In 1992, Shiloh received the John Newbery Medal. The annual award, bestowed by the children's librarians division of the American Library Association, is given for "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". Shiloh was a dark horse for the award. Ohio State University Professor Rudine Sims Bishop, a member of the 1992 Newbery committee, said in an interview that Shiloh was a "sleeper" that surfaced as a serious contender deep in their debate. After the January 27, 1992 announcement of Shiloh's winning the Newbery Medal, Naylor was flooded with numerous phone calls, requests for interviews, and mail. In an April 1992 interview, Naylor said: "Frankly, to go the bathroom, I have had to take the phone off the hook." The book was also selected as an American Library Association Notable Children's Book.

In January 1994, over 60,000 third–sixth graders in the state of Oklahoma selected from Shiloh 23 nominees as the winner of the Sequoyah Children's Book Award. The Sequoyah Award was presented to Naylor in April 1994 during the yearly Oklahoma Library Association conference. On April 14, 1994, at the annual conference of the Missouri Association of School Librarians, Shiloh received that year's Mark Twain Readers Award. The Mark Twain Award is decided annually through a vote by fourth–eighth graders in the state of Missouri. On October 29, 1994, Naylor received the William Allen White Children's Book Award for Shiloh. The award is decided through the tallying of over 55,000 children in the state of Kansas.

In 1997, The Virginian-Pilot chose Shiloh as the subject of a "community-wide effort to get people of all ages reading and talking about books". Beginning in October, the newspaper serialized Shiloh, publishing two chapters every week until the end of November. It also created a book guide about Shiloh and printed 1,000 copies for parents and teachers. A chat room was created for children to direct questions and comments about Shiloh. In 1999, Shiloh was selected as a recommended novel for children ages nine to twelve in the Read Across America initiative. In 2000, the Shiloh trilogy placed at number seven on the National Education Association's Children's Top 100 book list. Naylor was delighted that children had given her work such a high ranking. Shiloh is taught in many American elementary school courses.