Shiloh Blog

It wasn’t the same dog in the movie

Comment:

my class and I just watched and read Shiloh and we loved it. I have a question for you was the dog who attacked Shiloh really a German shepherd or did you change it when you were writing the book because in the movie it did not look like a German shepherd.Thanks for writing the good books.

Phyllis replied:

I wrote the book before it ever became a movie.  Producers often change things in a movie; maybe the dog they chose was a better actor.

Shiloh

Question:

we just finished watching and reading Shiloh!! It was awesome! My question is why did you choose to write about Clover?

Phyllis replied:

Don’t you think her story was worth writing about?

A Mean Character

Comment:

We would like to know why you chose to put a mean character like Judd Travers in your story?

 

Phyllis replied:

If he wasn’t in it, what was the story?  All books need conflict.  That was the conflict I chose to show how difficult it is sometimes to decide between right and wrong.  If he was a different character–a man who just unthinkingly didn’t treat his dogs right, and Marty said, “You know your dog really gets cold in winter, you should bring him in; and sometimes you forget to feed him,” and the man said, “Hey, you’re right.  I’ll do better from now on,”  would you have felt so emotional, so involved, in the story?   The meaner the man, the more the reader wants that dog to be rescued….

When you read it again….

Comment:

I want to ask you, even though, you knew what happened in the story, did you still have a lot of emotions when you read the book again?
Happy 2019!

Phyllis replied:

Always.

Would you consider this?

Comment:

I absolutely LOVED them both. But I have one question, if you write another Shiloh book would you put in another dog as a brother or sister or just as a friend. Please consider this thought and I love your Shiloh books. Thank you and Happy New Year!

Phyllis replied:

If you read the final Shiloh book, “A Shiloh Christmas,” you’ll get your wish.

Why did you choose a dog?

Comment:

Why did you choose a german shepherd to hurt Shiloh when it might have been a cat or a snake?

Phyllis replied:

Yes, it could have been another animal, but a cat probably wouldn’t have done as much damage, and a snake might have poisoned him and  killed him.  I have to think ahead what is going to happen and choose my scenes and my characters carefully to make things work out.  I decided that a big dog would work out the best, horrible as that might be.

Shiloh; Why?

Comment:

My class just finished reading Shiloh. The book and the movie were both really good, but I have one question… Why was Judd’s dad so mean to him?

 

Phyllis replied:

Probably because his own dad was mean to him.  Things like that seem to go on and on until someone breaks the chain.  I believe Judd mentioned that his dad frequently got drunk; I’d have to read the book again to make sure.

Shiloh

Comment:

In the movie why does Judd try to hurt when he pushed Marty to try to take Shiloh back with Judd? But we all like the movie and the book very much.

Phyllis replied:

When a movie is produced, a lot of action is added to make it more exciting.  Not all of it comes from the book.

Shiloh the dog

Comment:

Where did you get the idea to write about Shiloh? Where did you get the name Shiloh?

Phyllis replied:

I found such a dog in the little community of Shiloh, West Virginia

What’s your favorite book

Comment:

Hi! My name is Paige and my fourth grade class just finished reading Shiloh. I was wondering what your favorite Shiloh book is and why?

 

Phyllis replied:

They all seem to run together in my mind, but I suppose I’d have to say the first one, because it sets the stage for all the rest.