Your Questions Answered

Shows of Alice?

Question:

I really loved your books. It help me throughout my teenage year (which i am still a teenager). I just want to ask if you gonna make shows of the Alice books. I know you a busy person but hope you have the time to write back.

Phyllis replied:

My job is to write the books.  What happens later is largely up to my agent and my publisher.  There is a movie based  loosely on one of the Alice books, “The Agony of Alice,” titled “Alice Upside Down,” but as far as I know, there are no more movies planned at this time, and no shows.

Confused and Scared

Phyllis replied:

Your email reminds me so much of myself when I was in high school.  I had a beautiful, talented older sister, and I copied her in every way I could.  She talked the school into letting her take Latin instead of home economics.  So I took Latin.  She took classes in oil painting, and so did I.  She tried out for the operetta and senior play, and won major roles in each.  I tried out for each, and got a major role in the senior play.  She sang with the madrigals.  I sang with the madrigals.  But I always felt I was never quite as good as she was.  The only thing I did on my own was write stories.  I had my first one published when I was 16.  But I rarely talked about it, and certainly never told my friends.  Every so often I sold a story, and was thrilled, yet I kept trying to be like my sister.  Then, when I desperately needed money to get through college, I found I could pay much of it myself by writing and selling stories, even though it took me ten years to get my degree.  My advice to you is to clear your mind of everything else, and pretend you are starting new.  Each day, ask yourself what you are enjoying the most, and what you do the best.  If you could have any job you wanted ten years from now, what do you think would make you happiest?  You don’t have to decide anything right now.  You’re still in the exploring stage.  But for now, put medicine and law on a back burner and tell yourself you can have any job you like:  a veterinarian, a caterer, a chef, a costume designer, a social worker, a history teacher, a camp director, a writer…..   You WILL find yourself if you concentrate on what you do best and most enjoy.

Keep Writing Them

Question:

I’ve never written to an author before, so I don’t know what to expect. I read ‘Reluctantly Alice’
when I was 8 years old (I’m thirteen now) and have not been able to put the Alice books down.
It is probably my favorite series of book and i never get tired of reading them. I still laugh
whenever Lester encounters yet ANOTHER problem with Marylin and Crystal and feel melancholy
whenever Alice talks about her mother. I just wanted to let you know how much I loved the books
and hope that you will still keep writing them. I know that you are probably really busy, but if you
could reply to this, I would be very happy.

Phyllis replied:

I know that readers wish I could keep on writing the Alice books forever, but once she reaches her college years, her life will speed up.  The very last book will take you through the highlights of her life.  But there will always be 28 books that you can read again and again.

Should I Forget Him?

Birthday Present

Question:

I just received the best present for my birthday from my friends ever!!!! They had kept this as a surprise to me for a few months.
When I opened the box it was the first Alice book with your autograph!!!! I not only have a message from my favorite author who writes my favorite series but the most amazing friends too! I will treasure this forever! My friends and your autograph! It was just not the gift that made it special to me but it was the thought, and the idea too! They had known that these have been my favorite books since I was a little girl!
Thank you, thank you so much!!!!!
Have a great holiday and new year!!!

Phyllis replied:

And a Happy Birthday from me too!  What great friends you have!

Entire Series of Alice?

Question:

Could you tell me where u could buy the whole series of Alice
Like the entire series put together
I've tried almost EVERYWHERE, and no one has it, they only have each book
separate.
So if you could, hook me up?

Phyllis replied:

There is no whole set of Alice at the moment, though there are several Alice collections of three or four books each:  "The Wonderful World of Alice,"  "I Like Him, He Likes Her," and "It's not Like I Planned it this Way."  Look these up on Amazon.

Hard to Get a Job

Question:

I just returned home for 5 weeks from my first semester of college. My parents
give me a weekly allowance and said they would continue as long as I was home.
Suddenly my mother has changed her mind and says that I will get no money and
that I have to get a job for as long as I’m home. I’ve called and applied but no
place that I know is hiring. I pay for my own gas so receiving money from my
parents is a big deal. I worked every day for the past 2 summers but that job
isn’t available in the winter. I feel like they don’t understand how hard it is
to get a job and that this is unfair. Any advice?

Phyllis replied:

Obviously, I don’t know the whole situation, so there are many factors that might be at play here.  Jobs are certainly hard to get, but perhaps there is something in this holiday season you are overlooking–some store that would like extra help.  I don’t know how hard you’ve looked. And I don’t know what prompted your mother’s change of heart.  Is she herself overworked, perhaps, and your sleeping late and lounging about the house annoys her?  If neither of these are true, and if you have honestly tried store after store for a job with no success, I suggest you make a list of all the places you have tried, show it to your mother, and ask for her suggestions.  It’s possible that just showing a little regard for her own obligations might be all that she really wants.  After you’ve shown her your list, ask her if there’s anything you might do while you’re home that would help her.  Clean out closets?  Paint a room?  Sort through old magazines?  Vacuum out her car?   You also are entitled to a little R&R, but it may be that your personal help around the house would mean more to her than anything else.

Books They Can Relate To

Just Friends

hi mrs.Naylor i am addicted to your books. ok so i have a problem could you give me some advice? so i moved to CT when I was 3 and the first friend i made was a boy lets call him A. so me and a are really good friends but in 5th grade he told me he really liked me and i really liked him. and we kind of a a group we have ju, bi there going out gr, ca, gr, de and me and a. so me and a went out for a little bit but then we bolth decided we like each other as just friends better. and then summer came. are group got together again in 6th grade. we all hang out the same way but now a got kind of distant because his new gf doesn’t like me. but they broke up yesterday and he said they broke up because he would rather be my friend. now everybody thinks we like each other witch i do but i don’t know if he does. well i just don’t know what to do. thank you so much for writeing such amazing and realistic books.!!!

Phyllis replied:

Don’t do anything.  Just keep your cool and go on being friends. 

Writing Style