Your Questions Answered

Banned books

Question:

I was looking through your blog (like I do every couple weeks) and I, as well as many others I assume, saw the critisism that was displayed. I do not want to harp on how wrong I think they were, since I do not know where they are coming from or their situation, but I do want to share my own oppinions with you.

I have been reading your Alice books since I was very, very young and have read each one over seven times. Each time I read them, I pick up soemthing new, and as I get older, your writing goes to a whole new level for me, and I am starting to relate more and more with Alice, since I am now a Sophmore in highschool. I feel like Alice is always there for me no matter the time. I go through soem pretty touch moments but I ALWAYS find consolation in ALice. I am currently in the application process to spend my Junior year abroad in either Italy or Brazil or Sweeden. I was interveiwed and they asked me who I admired the most out of anyone. I answeredthat you were my biggest role model, not only because I am passionate in being a writer, but because I love your openness to help young girls (and old women and boys) and I think you are very talented. I haven’t written to you in over a year, though I have read your blog a lot and continued to read Alice whenever I want some inspiration. I am struggling right now with friends, and parents, and sexuality, and these books provide thought provoking questions and help me learn a lot about sex since my mom is way too librel about such matters, and my dad won’t talk to me about them at all. Through the books I can see all sides of the spectrum. Just one question: How do you feel when your books are banned, and how do you feel when you get spiteful letters from angry parents?

Phyllis replied:

Thanks so much for your email. Since the majority of my letters from parents are favorable, I don’t get too upset over the critical letters–I do try to understand where they are coming from. I also sympathize with librarians who don’t have a school policy for dealing with requests to ban a book and sometimes, fearful of losing their jobs, decide to remove a book from the shelves. It’s unfair that one or two parents should be able to decide what the children of other parents should or should not read. Most librarians put a lot of time into deciding what books should be in their collection, and though parents’ input is important, the professional librarian should have the final.

Posted on: October 4, 2011

Criticism of Alice

Question:

I was going through your blog and began noticing how much negativity I saw. I read through your blog regularly and have never really seen so much criticism at once. I think you are a brave and amazing person to actually reply to these emails instead of just deleting them because that’s most definitely what I would do. The one email that bothered me the most was the one about letting her eight year old daughter reading your books…is this person completely clueless? Your books are for teenage girls (mostly) and they really helped me get through so many complicated situations. It was like Alice made me feel like I wasn’t the only one. And I know for a fact your books are not placed in the “kids” section, some of you’re earlier ones like, The Agony of Alice may be placed there, but most of them are in the “Young Adult” section where they should be. Your books are amazing and you really understand how TEENAGE girls work, not eight years olds. Thank you so much for getting me through the hard times in my life.

Phyllis replied:

I think perhaps some of the critcism comes from parents who are themselves not ready to discuss sexual topics with their children. And they become angry with me when their daughter reads something in an Alice book about sex and then asks them about it. But I know how you, the readers, respond, and that makes it all worthwhile.

Posted on: October 3, 2011

Alice in Germany

Question:

I am from Germany and i
love to read your books!
Alice is a funny, lovely person and your
writing is perfect! But I´ve heared that
your last few books won´t translate into
German and that´s very sad!May you can change it.
I hope you will write a lot of Alice Books
in the next time and I wish you
much fun in writing!

Phyllis replied:

I really have no control over which countries translate my books or how they do it. I understand that perhaps things are left out that were in the original English editions. Only readers in Germany can influence the German publishers by writing to them. Perhaps they will publish more in the future.

Posted on: October 3, 2011

Born and Raised Here

Question:

FYI, I was born and raised here. Do not start to insinuate things about anyone without knowing anything. Also, do not bring race into this either. Your books have been banned in lots of school so please do not glorify your “united states” statement. There are so many reviews about your books now that I do a search so please again do not glorify how parents connect w their kids. I’m pretty sure those reviews were from “united states” citizen too.

Phyllis replied:

I did indeed jump to conclusions based on your name and on the grammar of your emails. I did not mean to either glorify the United States or denigrate another country–only to stress that people have differences regarding sexual matters, and you’re correct, many in the United States hold views similar to yours. What concerns me, apart from your reaction to my own books, is that there are many well-reviewed books out there by other authors, written for children and praised by librarians, that deal with, for example, child molestation, alcoholic parents, divorce, animal cruelty, that have good messages for children but that you might not feel are right for your daughter, as well as books on families with gay parents,on religious rebellion, scientific theories that may hold views very different from your own. Since these are sometimes only subplots to the bigger story, as are the sexual scenes in the Alice books, the reviewers may not even mention them and obviously, not everything that happens in a book can be listed on the fly-leaf. So I do repeat my suggestion that you have a personal talk with your child’s librarian about what you feel is appropriate for your daughter, so that she can help her select books that are in keeping with your own views and philosophies. I appreciate your writing to me.

Posted on: September 29, 2011

From Austria

Question:

i am 18 years now (august 2011). i am from austria and began to read the alice series when i was about 12 years old. i sort of “scoffed” the books, but then, i couldn’t read the following ones because they weren’t translated to german and my english wasn’t that good back then. i read many other books and the alice series was blocked out by them. one day, i must have been 14 or 15, i “mucked out” my book shelves and found the alice books i had bought in the past. immediately i remembered how impressed i was by them and how much i liked them – so i turned on my computer; i wanted to see if there were any more books in german out now. and they were! i liked that i was the same age as alice was in the first book i read then. from that time on, i always read the books at the time alice was the same age as me. not exactly the same time because i was born in december, but if alice and me would have gone to school together, we would have been in the same grade, lived the same summers etc. so now, i graduated two months ago and had time to read “incredibly alice” after my graduation because there was so much to do before it. anyways, when time came to read “including alice” i started to read the books in english, because i couldn’t wait for the translated version. for me, alice is some kind of a pen friend living in the us. i can understand her feelings, her problems, i recognise situations of my own life. i got to know the american school system. i’m just so glad i once found the alice books in the local library (the first six, at least).

now i took a look at the homepage and saw, that all this will end in 2013. and that i can’t read the book that fits to me now, now that i’m living my summer after graduation.

i always wanted you to never, ever stop writing the alice series. NEVER! i wanted to grow older with alice by my side. at least i wanted her to go to university the same time i do (coming fall). what to i write here? is this some trying of begging you to not stop? guess it’s not, even if i really feel to do so. but it’s not up to me. (but if you think about continuing and there’s a balance between the reasons for and against it, and you need one more voice to get a final decision, i beg you to take mine into consideration.)

now i feel i have said a lot – enough for you. first, i wanna say THANKS for reading this – if you do/did so at all.

and then.. there’s some big THANK YOU that’s in my throat wanting to come out so that you can hear it personally, but as long as this is not possible, it has to rest in my throat and get out of my fingers instead (keypad, you know). 😉 well. T H A N K Y O U for having written all those great books, for having created characters i won’t forget, for having put those great stories down on paper.

and now i have to excuse myself for my english – it’s just the english i learned in school and all i have written now just came out my head, no matter whether it’s all spelled the right way or whether i used ungrammatical phrases. hope you get what i want to say anyways.

the best wishes and greetings from austria (austria, not australia.. austria’s the little country bordering germany and switzerland – many people don’t have ever heard of it so i thought explaining wouldn’t be too bad).

Phyllis replied: It’s wonderful to get an email from Austria. I’m so happy to know you found the Alice books in German, though I understand that some of the translations are very different from the English. I wish I could go on writing the Alice books forever, but Alice gets older and so do I. The very last book that will come out in 2013, ALWAYS ALICE, will take her from age 18 to 60. And she will start college in that book. I hope you enjoy all the Alice books you may have missed, and very much appreciate your writing to me.

Posted on: September 29, 2011

Home-schooled

Question:

I have a great idea that I think you might want to put in one of your future Alice Books. I think you should introduce a new character or make someone homeschool. I’ve homeschooled all of my life, except for five weeks of trying a public setting. I’ve been searching for a story about a girl my age that homeschools, but out of the thousands of books I’ve read- there just weren’t any! Maybe you can add someone Alice’s age that moves into the neighborhood that schools at home. See what the reaction is of the other kids. You know? From my own experience, sometimes it’s hard to be the odd one out. The one who doesn’t go to any of the local schools. It would certainly work well with your fantastic way of writing the so-realistic Alice series. Thanks for all the laughs and cries I’ve enjoyed from reading your books!

Phyllis replied:

Thank you for your suggestion. I receive so many good ideas from readers. But all the Alice books are now written and turned in to the editor. The last two books will come out in 2011 and 2012.

Posted on: September 28, 2011

My Brother’s Friend

Question:

I don't know if u can answer two letters from the same person, but this is really important to me, anyways. So I've liked this guy for around three or four years now, and last year I realized I was in love with him. I'd go for it, but he's my brother's best friend, and he claims not to like me like that. I don't know if it's because he's afraid of my brother or if he really doesn't like me, but no matter how hard I try to get interested in someone else, I can't get over him. Can you please give me some advice? I'm desperate, and hurting.

Phyllis replied:

It's hard, I know, but here's the deal: Perhaps it seems easier for you to go on nursing a crush on a guy who doesn't feel that way about you, than to start looking at other guys and making new friends. This way you "sort of" have a romantic life, in that you're thinking about a certain person, but it's obviously not very rewarding. If this guy claims not to like you in a romantic way, take him at his word, and don't dream about his being afraid of your brother. If he really thought of you in a romantic way, I think it would show. This doesn't much help, I know, but it's time to move on.

Posted on: September 28, 2011

Wish I Could Meet Alice

Question;

I am one of the biggest fans of the Alice Books! I love them so much! I remembering starting to read them back in 6th grade and now i am a Freshman already! I have read every one up to date. It makes me sad knowing there are only 2 left! I loved reading and experiencing Alice and her family grow up. I really wish i could meet her (if she were real that is). I do, however, feel like she is one of my friends. Her experiences have helped me deal with mine and help me through some things. Since starting high school this year, i think of all of the things that happened to Alice throughout her 4 years at her high school. I would just like to thank you so much for writing my favorite books because they are truely incredible. It would be so amazing if i could meet you, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, one day or even just get an autographed book! Thank you again and it’d be awesome if you replied to this!

Phyllis replied:

It’s wonderful when readers take time to write to me, and I’m so glad to know you love the Alice books. Yes, I wish I could meet all my fans. But meanwhile, it’s good that we have email! Makes my day.

Posted on: September 28, 2011

I Hope You Sleep at Night

Question:

It’s free speech in the U.S. and people can say and write whatever they choose. My concern to you as an author is you shouldn’t write books for young girls and then start writing books for 9-12 years old without any warning that it could contain sexual content. To me it’s like a pedophile luring in a child and then ripping their innocents away from them without their parents awareness. Again, if your argument is I’m not close to my daughter will be wrong again. Hard working parents can not monitor every little thing in their child’s life. When I see her reading a book with a cute cover on it I am assuming she’s doing good by reading. I can’t read every little line in every book she reads. I’m pretty sure that goes with almost all parents too. I hope people are aware of your books and I pray you slap some kind of warning to your more mature books. At least to help out hard working parents who wants to be a good parent also. Yes 9-12 year olds do start their period around that age, but isn’t presumptuous for you as an author to step in and assume it’s okay to teach them this? What if they were not ready yet? What if the parent isn’t ready either? Who made you the judge to say a 9 year old should not be ignorant about sex? Yes I do have a close relationship to my daughter so don’t judge me Ms author. Because i am close to her is how I found out a series of books for kids with a nice cute cover could lead to such sexually materials unsuitable for a 9/10 year olds. you should be ashamed of yourself for selling sex in the world. Our world is so corrupted nowadays with so many sex on tv and entertainment I’m glad you are rolling in your money with the books you sell. I hope you are happy sleeping at night. Are you glad you are contributing to our society today? I guess you motto is to start early! Take some responsibilities with your books. Like I said hope you sleep well at night.

Phyllis replied:

If you could read the many letters and emails I get from parents thanking me for the Alice books, relating how reading the books together with their daughters has made them even closer in their relationship, you would understand how I do sleep very well at night. At the same time, I understand how difficult it must be for parents from other countries and cultures to deal with the relative openness we have here in the United States to choose what we read and to write what we want. If the publisher did not agree with me, they would not publish my books. If librarians did not feel that the Alice books were useful and wholesome for their students, they would not buy them. The Alice series is 28 books long, beginning with Alice in third grade, and the very last book will end with Alice, at age 60, reuniting with her seventh grade class. In between are the many things that happen to Alice and her friends, including sexual situations. I just don’t share your feeling about innocence versus guilt, or good and bad, or clean and dirty. Sexual feelings are natural and normal, and my hope is that in addition to writing truthfully about a girl growing up in America, the books will also help girls understand themselves, accept their feelings, and deal with them in a responsible way. If your aim is to keep your daughter innocent of sex, ask the librarian if the book your daughter chooses has anything at all to do with sex. I’m sure she can recommend other books that both you and your daughter will enjoy.

Posted on: September 28, 2011

I’m Portuguese and love your books

Question:

Hi! I am portuguese and I love your books… Especially Alices! I am 13 years old, and I love read your books!

Phyllis replied:

It’s great to know that Alice has readers in so many different countries.

Posted on: September 23, 2011