Your Questions Answered

Thank you for the memoroes

It seems I have had quite a similar experience to many other people here on Alice’s blog. I remember the Alice series so fondly as I was growing up. I’m just now ordering all the boxed sets, so that I can have my own collection! Phyllis, you painted an amazing picture of a girl who I related to so well, yet she also acted like an older sister to me. Being raised an only child by my nan, Alice’s life opened so many pathways to life lessons I would have had no clue about.

In a world of technology, I only hope that more young audiences will read your books and use Alice as a role model. I think she’s done a world of good.

Thank you so much for your message.  It delights me to know what the books were helpful to so many people.  I’m glad you’re getting a boxed set, as I’m not sure how long those will be available.

Shilo movie

Is there any way I can get ahold of the first movie shilo I enjoyed watching it as a kid and it would be the greatest Christmas wish if u can help me get my hands on the movie I loved it I have even read the book and loved it to please help me with this

I think the best way would be to look for used Shiloh movies on Amazon.  Click on the name of the Shiloh movie you want and see if there are any offers of second hand movies that people want to sell.  You’d be taking a chance on the condition of the movie, but it’s worth a try.

TO ALL THE BUSINESSES WHO WRITE TO ME….

This is Phyllis Naylor speaking.  I do not use this website to sell books.  I do not use it to rank high on Google.  My heart does not leap in delight when I turn on my computer in the morning and find twenty new emails on this website telling me how much money, publicity, ranking, sales I could make if I just did X,Y and Z

My heart leaps in joy when I find just a comfortable amount of emails I can answer in a half hour, so that I can spend the rest of my time working on a new book.  I love hearing from readers.  I try to answer as fast as I can.  But my life would be a lot easier if businesses would respect what is important to me and what is not.

 

 

question

Hi, this is mia t. and i am reading your book right now and wondered why they have not movie yet. Thank you! God bless you

I don’t know what book you are reading so I can’t help much.   (But of course ALL writers probably wonder why the movie people didn’t choose THEIR books to make into movies!)

The Dolphin Bar and Shrimp House, Jensen Beach, FL.

Hello Phyllis,
My husband and I were at the “Dolphin Bar and Shrimp House” at about 4:30 this afternoon. As we were leaving I passed by your reserved table with a Shiloh book on the table. I have been tutoring a Grade 4 boy back in the Windsor,Ont.Canada area and we are reading this book for his school Language Arts program in Harrow, Ontario. He is in love with dogs and deeply into this novel. We are at the St. Lucie PGA resort until Sat. when we return to Canada. Is there anything you could provide for Max as he would be thrilled and very motivated to hear from the author of this great book.I can meet you anywhere and am so sorry I coud not stay to meet you and share this fact with Max on Tuesday when I will see him again. I hope that I am not intruding. I also used your books during my teaching career that began in !970 and is still going strong. Regards, Dorothea Bryant

I would have  been glad to meet you if I was there but I have no idea where the shrimp  house is, and have not been out of Maryland for some time.  I’m not surprised that you saw a Shiloh book on a table, because that little dog does seem to get around, but I appreciate your thinking of me.  If you write to me at 401 Russell Av., apt 713, Gaithersburg, MD, 20877, and remind me of this boy with a self-addressed envelope to mail something back to you, I’ll find something to send to him.

Thank You- ACTUAL ONE

Hello, I hope this is still an active place to contact you. I am not here to ask a question, but I am here to thank you for your Alice books.

A few weeks ago I was reminiscing on the books I loved so much as a child, and I started remembering your Alice series. I don’t remember that much, and I believe I never actually finished the series. But what I do remember is the hold it had on me when I was around 12, and the lessons it taught me.

I cannot say thank you enough for that series. I don’t know if you know how much it prepared young girls like me for teenager-hood. I grew up with no cousins around my age, especially female cousins. I was pretty much on my own in experiencing the adventure that was being a teenage girl in America. My mom was and still is in my life, but she has always been quite out of the loop. Older than the parents of a lot of my friends, and raised in a much more strict, patriarchal country, she just did not get it. She tried her best to prepare me, but her advice could only do so much. Your books helped me tremendously.

I stopped reading the books, if I recall correctly, around when I was 13/14. It was never something I actively looked back into, like a manual when I needed advice. Instead, the life of Alice was a story that hid in my subconscious, following me. It was not until a few weeks ago that I realized the extent to which reading about Alice’s life prepared me. I was never given “the talk” about sex from my parents, and it was not taught at school for me until long before I had already learned what it was. It was your book that taught me that. It was your book that gave me lessons on handling friendships, periods, crushes, school, and supporting others. Hell, it was your books that taught me what was appropriate to wear at a wedding! Not that my parents didn’t know this, just that “don’t wear funeral colors at a wedding” was something that was simply never told to me, I was just expected to know. Thank you for that.

(Or was it the other way around, where Alice tried to wear a white dress to a funeral? I do not remember all too well. I think it was a black/purple dress for a wedding)

Not all the lessons, I have used yet. I may never. My parents are still married, I have not had to deal with the grief of losing a mother, or the worries of gaining a stepmother. But I truly appreciate how you went the miles to include practically every experience a girl could go through– at least the lessons you are experienced enough to educate on. You have probably helped so many girls without mothers or caring mother figures in their lives, in a deeper way than you have helped me. Your Alice series is a treasure, and I hope you are able to read this.
Thank You.

 

I appreciate your letter very much, and have deleted everything that could possibly identify you.  Your email could have been sent by any hundreds of thousands of girls, because so many tell me the exact same thing.  In fact, I could have written it myself when I was a teenager, because my mother–although she was sweet and caring, knew almost nothing about life as a teenage girl in a city where we were living.  She grew up on a farm in Iowa, became a teacher in a country school when she was in her teens, and could not help us when it came to how to dress or use make up or do our hair, and she was especially worried about how far we would go with a boyfriend.  But she did her best, and I don’t hold that against her.

I hope that you will be able to find the books about Alice when she was in college and for all the years afterwards.  If you just are able to read the final book–Now I’ll Tell You Everything  (Alice’s life from 18 to 60) I think you would like it very much.

 

I was once a young reader…..now an audiobook narrator!

Hello Phyllis,

I came across your books as a 6th grader in 2002 and fell in love with Alice instantly! I read every book that my school libraries and local library had of the series! In my mind, Alice was another one of MY best friends. I told my friends about what happened in her books as if she WAS my real friend. She walked with me through many years of middle school and high school. I even coveted my best friend, whom had red hair! As an elementary school teacher, I kept many copies on my classroom shelves. After 9 years in the classroom, I am working as an audiobook narrator and voice actress! I believe that Alice IS A TIMELESS series! I want to be a part of reading and telling some of my most favorite stories so that readers today can listen! I would LOVE to read and bring some of the Alice books back to life! So here I am, a lifetime reader, turned narrator – obsessed with all things Alice! I thought I would shoot my shot and send a message! <3 Rachael

I really loved your  message, and think that many girls would enjoy hearing Alice’s voice, not just reading her words.  I have no idea how books get turned into audio books–I imagine it’s the original publisher who makes the decisions, but I think it’s a grand idea and hope you find a way to do it.  I gave a lecture recently on book banning, and read that hilarious dialogue between Alice (in 5th grade) and her dad (with her brother chiming in) as to how the sperm gets inside a woman, and it brought many laughs from the adult audience.

writing

what made you write about shiloh

I found a dog in West Virginia that had been mistreated, so decided to write a book about her.   She was female.

Shiloh Movie

Why is Shiloh no longer available to purchase on Amazon Prime Video?

I wish I had an answer for you.  If you can find a used copy for sale on Amazon, I certainly would try that next.  There are various rumors that a new Shiloh movie is in the works, but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Question about Roxie

 

We have been reading your really good book Roxie and the Hooligans. We have some questions for you about the book, and we decided to choose just one to send today. Why did you choose to dump trash in the ocean? It can be bad for animals to put trash in the ocean. For example, a straw could go in a sea turtle’s nose and get stuck in there for hours or plastic loops like for Gatorade can get stuck around their necks and kill them. Instead of dumping trash in the ocean, you should pick up the trash. We would love to hear your reasoning for including trash-dumping in your book. Thank you so much for writing it!

Best,
Ms. Mack’s Class

You are absolutely right!   I can remember a long time ago when I heard that barges were dumping garbage in the ocean  I couldn’t quite believe it.  Then I was told that it was food garbage, and that it disintegrated in the water, so was not harmful in a great big ocean.  But trash DOES go into the water along with food garbage, and I’m afraid I just forgot about all that when I wrote the story, concentrating instead on what would happen to Roxie next.  Thank you and your class for reminding us all about pollution.  For many years now I have been carefully separating  my food garbage from other trash, and I wish I could have put in  a plug for protecting our oceans when I wrote that book.