Shiloh Blog

Will there be a Shiloh # 5?

Comment:

I love the Shiloh series and am excited about A Shiloh Christmas! Will there be a Shiloh 5 ?

Phyllis replied:

No, “A Shiloh Christmas” is the 4th and final book of the Shiloh series.  I think everything comes around full circle, and readers will finally see how things worked out between Marty Preston and Judd Travers.  But I’m happy that you loved the books so much.

We Talked to You!

Comment:

I’m not sure if you remember me or not, but I was the teacher who contacted you when my students were reading Shiloh and we arranged a conference call.  You were wonderful to listen to all of my 15 student’s questions about the book.  I had walked the kids to my house from school to use my speaker phone landline (no cell phones back then). The last question was whether you would write a sequel to Shiloh.  At that point, you had thought not!  They told you that they would love it if you did!  I had so many of them return several years to discuss Shiloh Season and Saving Shiloh.  They were thrilled.  Fast forward to now.  I have been retired for 6 years and I volunteer at our local Salvation Army thrift store in the book department and someone donated a brand new copy of A Shiloh Christmas! Thank you for keeping such a beautiful story going.  I’m just about to start reading it!  I will pass it on to the gal who took my place and still teaches the Shiloh book unit!! When I retired I had 3,000+ books in my classroom and it included almost all of your books!  Thank you for making my job so fulfilling using your creations!

Phyllis replied:

Three thousand books in your classroom!  I’m honored to be included.   Yes, there are four Shiloh books now and “A Shiloh Christmas” ends the series.  There is a lot to think about, because the plots could have gone different ways, and Marty could have reacted very differently than what he did.  Thank you for donated that final book to your old classroom.  And thanks for your very nice email.

Shiloh movies

Comment:

Are you gonna make more movies?

Phyllis replied:

I hope so, except that I don’t make them.  The producers are talking about the possibility of a movie of A Shiloh Christmas, but there is so much to consider, and so many different ways to go about it.  Of course we will announce it when it happens.

 

Shiloh…Love this book!

Comment:

I love the book Shiloh. The way you put the book together is amazing. How long did it take you to write Shiloh? How many drafts did you do? My favorite part of Shiloh is when Judd gives Marty Shiloh. It made me feel relieved that Marty earned Shiloh. I was scared at first, then Judd gave Shiloh to Marty. My favorite character was Marty. I like how he was brave, smart, and he cared about animals.

Phyllis replied:

It took about six or eight weeks to write the first draft.  That’s very fast for me, but I was so emotionally involved in that story that I could hardly do anything else except write.  Then a number of drafts followed, the first and second were written by hand; then I typed the third draft on my computer, changing as I went.   Printed it out, changed some more, printed it out, changed some more, until finally I felt it was the best I could do and sent it to my publisher.

Shiloh Christmas

Comment:

DO you need to read the Shiloh books in order? I just finished Shiloh with my class and I’d love to read them Shiloh Christmas this week BUT do not want to spoil anything if I decide to do the trilogy with them. Thanks!

Phyllis replied:

There are really four books, Shiloh, Shiloh Season, Saving Shiloh, and A Shiloh Christmas.    It’s one continued story.  Each book can be read alone, and you can go from the first book to the fourth–Marty summarizes the other two just a little in the last book–but if you plan to read the second and third books, then I’m afraid you’ll take some of the steam out of the plot, as they’ll already know the ending.  But still, there are a number of exciting things that happen in the other two books, and perhaps your students will be curious as to how the ending came to be.

Question from Poland

Comment:

Hello!
I am a student at Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa, Poland. I am writing my final paper using your book, Shiloh.
I would like your comments on my thoughts about the story.
In Shiloh, I loved the way the villian, Judd Travers, changes because of the boy’s honorable behaviour. I wonder of it is the coming-of-age of the Judd Traver’s rather than that of Marty Preston.
Thank you and I have enjoyed your story very much,
Phyllis replied:

You have good insight into the story.  In fact, if you read the three books following Shiloh–you will see a slow change in this angry, miserable man.  And it’s Marty’s example of sticking to his word that seems to impress and confound Judd Travers.

 

West Virginia people

Comment:

I just read your book, “Shiloh”. I really enjoyed it. It was very interesting and different in a good way I got to see how West Virginia people acted and how they live in their environment and how much different my life is then theirs. How did you think of the paths of the book, they were very interesting?

Phyllis replied:

People are more alike than they are different, actually.  In fact, if you compare Marty’s life with that of his friend, David Howard, you’ll see that although in some ways their lives, their homes, their father’s occupations are different, the two boys, and the two families, are alike in so many ways, and they both live not too far apart in West Virginia.

Would Judd be Taken Away?

Comment:

I am a big fan of your stupendous book, “Shiloh”. The book was amazing! It was so well written. In the book so many theories popped in my mind. Like maybe Judd would be taken away for child labor laws or he would pin the deer on Marty. It surprised me that Judd actually went through with the deal. The way you came up with certain decisions blew my mind. I would have never thought Judd would actually give Marty that leash. The way you ended it was really cool. Like how everything ended up okay! I have some questions for you. How did you choose the way the book went? I have another question. How did you get your inspiration for “Shiloh”? Shiloh is such a great book and I can’t wait to read the next books!

Phyllis replied:

I actually found a dog in Shiloh, West Virginia–skinny, frightened, dirty, hungry-and even after friends adopted her, I couldn’t get her out of my mind.  Feeling sure she had once been abused, I wrote a book about her (but changed her to a “he” for a variety of reasons).

The German Shepherd Attack

Comment:

I love your book “Shiloh” and I just finished reading it. What I like is that you are really good at expressing each of your characters in the story. What made me sad was that Shiloh got attacked by a German shepherd and Shiloh had loads of tears on his body. I have only have read your 1st book and I adore it! One question though, how did you make it so a-mazing?!

Phyllis replied:

I’m really glad that you liked it so much.  I know, the attack by the German shepherd was difficult to write about.  Have you seen the movie?  That scene is very scary, but in reality, those two dogs were really playing, and the growling was added in.  Someone from the Humane Society was there all the time making sure that no animals were hurt in the making of the movie.

A Big Fan

Comment:

I like the book ”Shiloh” it was pretty neat. You did make it a little hard to make a few theory’s. Like in the beginning Marty wanted Shiloh but he had to do some hard work to get him and at the end he got him. Judd in the beginning wouldn’t let Marty have Shiloh and didn’t take care of his dogs at the end Judd took good care of his dogs and also let Marty have Shiloh. I was surprised that you did write a book about something that was familiar from what you saw once before. How did you come up with the characters and the paths throughout the story?

Phyllis replied:

Hmmm.  I’m guessing that coming up with theories about the book was your homework assignment, right?   I wasn’t really thinking about theories when I wrote it.  I just wanted to tell a story, and I was especially interested in how Marty would be able to persuade Judd to let him have Shiloh.  With me, every book starts with a situation, and the characters develop from that.