Shiloh Blog

Shiloh and Peacebuilding

Comment:
I am reading the first Shiloh book to my twin sons, age 8.
As a professional peacebuilder, with a lot of experience throughout the world in peacebuilding for Mennonite Central Committee, the UN, and other organizations, I am quite moved by this story.
It’s wonderfully crafted!

My boys love it – they are more hungry to keep reading, than with any other books we’ve read, and that includes several of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books!

I’m especially touched by – and grateful for – the unfolding insight into Judd Travers. This is making for wonderful conversation – first of all about how mean he is, but then about the discovery that this abusive man was abused himself and quite lonely.

It’s the kind of insight that somehow seems to elude even many adults, and here it is woven into the fabric of this spellbinding tale!

My boys “get it” immediately. One of them, who kept saying he hates Judd Travers in the beginning, is now saying, “Well, maybe Judd Travers isn’t a bad guy. His dad was bad. But Judd Travers is stupid!”

Thank you for this gift to my boys, and to the world!
Phyllis replied:

I appreciated your email so much.  As you read the other three books–most especially the final one, A Shiloh Christmas,” I think you’ll find the peacekeeping theme even more pronounced.  My older son attends meetings in a Quaker congregation, and we’ve had many  interesting conversations about how to go about uniting different viewpoints.  I actually don’t start out with a theme or moral at all–only a story–in this case, how would an eleven year old boy convince a  mean and miserable man to give up one of his hunting dogs?  And, as I got more into the story, What’s right? as Marty eventually asks his dad.  Thank you for letting me know how much the book means to your family.

Tell if Judd dies or not.

Comment:

Did Shiloh die?

 

Phyllis replied:

In my four Shiloh books, Judd has a serious accident, but he doesn’t die.  Neither does Shiloh.  In real life, however, the little dog I found in West Virginia that inspired the Shiloh books, was adopted by a loving couple, friends of ours in Shiloh, W. V., and lived a happy life until she (it was a female dog) died in 2000 and is buried there, with a tombstone over the grave, on their property.

Shiloh Season

Comment:

Is Shiloh Season available in Spanish? If so, where can I get it? We have a Spanish speaking student, and her class is starting the book. Thank you.

Phyllis replied:

I truly wish it was available in Spanish, and perhaps somewhere down the line it will be.  The first book in the quartet, Shiloh, was published in Spanish.   Perhaps you could contact that publisher in Mexico: www.fondodeculturaeconomica.com

 

Marty’s Lies

Comment:

Do you believe that there are occasions when lying to your parents is OK?

 

Phyllis replied:

This was the question I posed, among others.  This gray area between right and wrong.  Whichever way Marty chose, there were consequences.  He had already tried once to convince his parents that the dog was being abused, that he wanted to protect it, and his father insisted it be returned to its legal owner. Once again, dog was abused.  The second time it ran away and  came to Marty, he did what his heart felt was right.  But that too had consequences, and this time the dog was seriously injured.  It is not a question for me to answer.  It is for the reader to wrestle with.  What would you do?

Shiloh mystery ending

Comment:
What a great series you wrote! Yesterday I finished the last book in the Shiloh Trilogy. I notice you left us hanging about the murder in Bens Run. I would absolutely love for you to tell me and many others of your fans about who killed him. I really like your books and I am reading your other book ICE. Thank you. I would like to be a great author just like you.
Phyllis replied:

Hmmm, I didn’t?   I skimmed the books but couldn’t find where I had written a conclusion to that.  I’m not sure I ever said.  What was important to me was that whatever seemed to go wrong was always blamed on Judd by some people, and this was just another example.  And even after it was proved that it was someone else who had killed a man, it didn’t seem to change opinions about Judd.  I’m so glad you enjoyed the series.  I hope you’ll enjoy some of the other books I’ve written, similar to Shiloh and Ice.

reading

Comment:

why did Marty hide Shiloh and Judd travers was cursing at his dogs?

Phyllis replied:

Hmmm.  I wonder if you’ve really read the book.  Marty hid the dog because he knew his parents might make him give the dog back to it’s legal owner, and then Shiloh would probably be beaten or kicked, the way Judd treats his dogs.  Cursing was just part of Judd’s life–he was a miserable man who had been whipped as a boy, and he really didn’t know how to be kind.

Does Shiloh Die?

Comment:

Shiloh series is a fantastic book series. My 8 year old son and his classmates were reading Shiloh, and he wanted to continue that at home. My son and I read together at night, and this has been a great series to do that with. We are on the last book  A Shiloh Christmas. My concern is that after all this time loving this dog, we find out that Shiloh dies. I know all dogs do, we lost our beloved dog just a couple years ago. It was very difficult. Every so often our son will say, “I really miss him”, just out of the blue. 🙁 I need to be prepared and know if Shiloh Dies at the End of This Book. I need to be prepared to help my son with it. Thanks so much for your work. And for giving my son and I some special time each evening.

Phyllis replied:

Shiloh does NOT die in my series.  Perhaps the fact that the real dog back in West Virginia, which inspired the series, died in 2000, gets mixed up with the dog in the book.  Although there are lots of tense moments in A Shiloh Christmas, I think that both you and your son will enjoy the ending.

Won’t you write another?

Question:

I’m a grandma of a 10 year old that didn’t care much for reading until Shiloh. He has the whole series, read every one, but will not finish the last one because he doesn’t want it to end!! He relates so well to the characters. Any chance you will change your mind and write another of this young boy and his dog?

Phyllis replied:

Oh, I wish I had two heads and four hands and 36-hour days!  But there are just too many other kinds of books I want to write.  I can suggest a few other books of mine that seem very popular with 10 year-olds.  You know your grandson better than I do, of course, so you would know which of the following might appeal to him most.  As a single book, with a lot of suspense, Going Where It’s Dark–about a 7th grade boy who wants so much to discover a cave in his area of the country–but is bullied by a group of guys who tease him on the school bus, and when they lower him into the opening of a cave that the county has closed up…well, I can’t tell you the ending, but I think it will make the reader happy.  If your grandson likes series, however, and if he happens to like cats, he might like the sassy “Cat Pack” series of 4–The Grand  Escape, The Healing of Texas Jake, Carlotta’s Kittens, and Polo’s Mother.  Written from the viewpoint of two housecats who manage to escape to the great outdoors.  And the 12-book series–a houseful of boys who try to outwit a houseful of girls–and make their family move back where they came from.  Except they start having so much fun with the tricks they play on the girls, and their amazement at the girls’ tricks in return, that…. Well, I won’t tell how it all ends, but your grandson should start with The Boys Start the War, followed by The Girls Get  Even.

letter

Comment:

Dear Ms. Reynolds Naylor,
We liked reading your book, Shiloh. I liked your book because the plot created a spark in my mind that made me want to read more. It did take some figuring out when it came to words like ”gunnysacks”
Wait, don’t stop!!! We still have some questions for you to answer.
•Where did you get the idea of writing Shiloh?
•Who inspired you to be a writer?

Phyllis replied:

I think my parents get the credit for reading aloud to us every night, almost until we started high school.  It was just a family thing, and they read so dramatically.   I got the idea for writing about a dog named Shiloh, because that’s where I found the real live dog who inspired me, in Shiloh, West  Virginia.

 

Shiloh fans in China

Comment:

I work in a Chinese library in South West China and I’m responsible for children’s English books. I already introduced other three Shiloh books to the book-purchasing plan at the beginning of this year. I’m happy that after three months when the books come into our library, more Chinese kids who love human-and-animal stories could read also your original writing but not just translations.

 

Phyllis replied:

That’s wonderful that your students are able to read the Shiloh books in English as well as Chinese.  As someone who never learned a second language, I’m in awe of people who are fluent in more than one.  Sometimes even two or three!