that is reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn's well-known resolution to save Jim from slavery: "All right, then, I'll go to hell." Thinking about the falsehoods he has told to save Shiloh, he believes he is bound for hell. He reflects: Near the novel's conclusion, Judd refuses to honor his agreement with Marty because there was no witness. When Marty asks his mother what a witness is, she responds: "Somebody who knows the Lord Jesus and don't mind tellin' about it." Despite Judd's refusal to honor the agreement, Marty persistently maintains his part of it. He decides: "I got no choice. All I can do is stick to my side of the deal and see what happens. All in the world I can do." After ultimately ceding Shiloh to Marty, Judd asks: "What you going to do with that dog once he's yours?" Marty's simple reply is: "Love him." Scholar Claudia Mills noted that: "The resolution of the stand-off comes when Marty, in essence, stands witness, in his mother's religious sense of witness, for an ethic of love, crystallized in his love for Shiloh." Reception The News & Observers Elizabeth Ward listed Shiloh as one of the best children's books in 1991. She called the book a "heartstopping, but tough-as-steel story of a boy and an abused dog in the hardscrabble hill country of West Virginia". Author Timothy Morris deemed Shiloh to be the "most celebrated dog novel of the nineties". Michele Landsberg of Entertainment Weekly called Shiloh a "compelling read" and rated the novel an A. Equating Shiloh to classics like Charlotte's Web, author Laura Elliott praised the novel's "voice, suspense, and layer of themes". After Shiloh received the Newbery Award, Jane Langton wrote in The New York Times Book Review: "Did Shiloh really deserve the prize? Surely there must have been a book more important than this agreeable but slight story." Langton opined that Shiloh was "a good book, not a great book" and that there must have been few worthy children's books that year. The Sacramento Bees Judy Green disagreed, believing that Shiloh was "worthy of its award, which labels it the best fiction for children written last year". Green lauded Naylor for her "excellent portrayal of Marty's introspection and superb storytelling in the area's vernacular". The Booklists Ellen Mandel extolled the novel for its "moving and powerful look" at the virtues and vices of human nature and the