Shiloh Blog

Shiloh

Good afternoon, my son is in 5th grade and his class is reading your book Shiloh. He is enjoying the book so much. There is no fussing when ask to read.
My son attends Forbush Elementary school East Bend NC. It is a small, rural school.
The sad part is the book my son brought home from school is falling apart. I have taped it back together. My question is there a good place to purchase the book on wholesale? There is 21 kids in his class and I was looking for options to buy the class a new set.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Amy and son Case

I wish I could help you, but I really don’t know.  Why don’t you email Tracy von Straaten at Scholastic in NYC   They publish a paperback edition of Shiloh.   Perhaps they could help you out.   TvanStraaten@scholastic.com

regarding my MA project

hi, mam, I wish to contact you regarding my project on Shiloh. I need details about you and your past mam

 

You have obviously found my website, and there are all sorts of pages you can find on it that tell about my background, family, career, marriages, etc.  Please read all of those first.  If you still have questions, you can post them here.

Thank You

 

Growing up there was nothing I wanted more than a dog, but I was never allowed to have one so I settled for pretend dogs which I loved just as dearly, your Shiloh being one of them. I remember I used to read through the trilogy at least once a month throughout my elementary school years, but unfortunately my love of reading faded as I grew older. I suppose the more I was forced to read for school, the less I wanted to read for fun.

I’m 26 now, and had only just started reading for leisure again when I found my old copy of The Shiloh Collection during a recent visit to my parents’ home. I reread the trilogy for the first time in a decade and a half, and I mean it when I say it felt like reuniting with a cherished old friend I hadn’t seen in a long, long time. I was 10 all over again, imagining myself running the hills with Marty and Shiloh.

When I discovered that you wrote a fourth book, I couldn’t help myself and immediately ordered a copy which I am now eagerly waiting to arrive in the mail. It feels a little silly to be THIS excited to read it as a grown woman but I can hardly wait, especially now that I’ve got a dog of my own to sit by me while I do.

Anyway all this is just to say thank you, Mrs. Naylor, for writing a series that has brought countless hours of joy, warmth, and adventure to me both as a child and an adult. Shiloh will always hold a special place in my heart.

 

I’m so glad you reconnected again with Shiloh.  Give that dog beside you a pat on the head for me.

character traits

Dear Mrs. Naylor my name is Lincoln and I have a question for you. How did you decide the traits for your characters in the story

First I think about the story–the plot.  What kind of boy would put so much thought and energy into all that Marty went through?   Then it’s a matter of imagining the story–what would he be like?  How would he talk?  How would he react?  It’s not as though I make a list of traits and then assign them to different characters in my story.

A Reader Grown Up -Thank you

Dear PRN,

I was born in 1988. When I was about 10 years old your book, Shiloh, was a true friend of mine.

I’m now 32 years old and have a two-year-old daughter of my own. I look forward to sharing you’re blessed to work with her.

I’m also working on my first book. I hope to make young readers smile like the way you made me smile all those long years ago.

Sincerely,

A Reader Grown Up

 

Wishing you the very best with your book.  If the words make YOU smile when you write them, they’ll probably win over your readers too.

Differences

I am just re-reading the Shiloh Trilogy, which I have loved since I was a small child.

Right now, I am reading the fourth book: A Shiloh Christmas (2015) for the very first time.

I have a question regarding a difference I noticed between the third book: Saving Shiloh (1997) & the fourth book: A Shiloh Christmas (2015).

In the third book, it says that Marty gives Dara Lynn a kitten for her birthday – yet, in the fourth book it says that Marty gave Dara Lynn the kitten for Christmas.

Why is there a difference between the books on when Marty gave Dara Lynn her kitten?

Thanks much.

Because I goofed, and you’re the first reader who told me about it!  Thanks for letting me know.

 

Names

How do you choose names for your characters?

I think a long time about names.  For Judd, I tried to think of a name that not many people would have.  I also choose names that don’ t sound too much alike so that readers don’t get confused.

Hello😊

in shiloh  how did you figure out names. I have lots mor questions

I take a long time choosing names.  For Judd, I tried to think of a name that not many people would have.  And I try hard not to choose names that sound too much alike, so that readers never get confused.

jus to talk

Hey mrs phyllis i wanted to talk to you about shiloh and tell you that we are doing a project of you and your book shi

I hope you’re enjoying the project.  If you look all around my website, and click on a lot of things, you’ll find out a great deal about me and how I came to write the book Shiloh.

Proper praise and entertainment

I quite honestly am not sure if you are still alive, but I wanted to send this nonetheless. My classmates and I recently read your extraordinary book “Shiloh” and we very much enjoyed reading it. I mean you should’ve heard the applause at the end of the book when we finished! Anyways, let me get to the point. Alive or not you are a very good author and that book brought our class everything we wanted in a book. It brought us excitement, anticipation, a vocabulary boost, the knowledge that our teacher (Mrs. Foster. Truly the best teacher) does a pretty good accent, and an ending that we will never forget. The book was very good. Hats off the illustrator of the cover! They were really good! It was so good some kids had a small debate on if it was a photograph or not, eventually we all made the decision it was an illustration. Funny right? I’ve had a hard time picking this but I want this letter/email to give you proper praise and entertainment. So, after a long time of thinking I’d have to say my favorite part was the end (both chapters 14 and 15). The lesson at the end was just…eye opening. If I were just a tad bit more sensitive to that I’d be bawling, trust me. If you have any suggestions for some students wanting to become authors do tell! You are truly an inspiration! If you want any further information please email me back!

With much appreciation,
A student of many, Granview Elementary School

I appreciate your telling me how the class reacted to my book, Shiloh.  It was hard to keep myself from crying some when I wrote it.  Yes, wasn’t the artist good who illustrated the cover?  Several different covers have been used over time, and I’ve liked them all.  The main advice I can give to young people wanting to become authors is to read, read, read and  write, write, write.  Not because you have to, but because you want to.  Try starting out with some real incident, big or small, that happened in your own life, just for fun.  Now change it just a bit.  Make it happen to someone else instead of you.  Or put a different beginning on it.  A different ending.  Try to feel this new thing happening and have fun with it.  Or try to scare yourself to death by the way the suspense adds up, the story creeps along….Each time you write something new you are practicing at getting better.