While walking in the tiny community of Shiloh, West Virginia, Naylor saw the dog she wrote about in this story.

Instead of inventing a setting for the book, she chose to use the exact location where she saw the abandoned animal. She incorporated in her novel the old grist mill, the river road, and the school house that she passed on her walk. She accurately described the town of Friendly, located near Sistersville and midway between Wheeling and Parkersburg. To make sure she correctly portrayed the area, Naylor carefully researched the location, writing to West Virginia agencies that could give her information on economic diversity and minute details of the area. She discovered the kind of vehicle a postman would drive and the length of his route in the West Virginia hills, so that she could accurately portray Marty's father.

In Shiloh, Marty, his parents, and two younger...