More Shiloh please!!

Comment:
Shiloh is one of our favorites thus far!! My fourth graders and I just finished your book and we loved it! We have a few questions that we are dying to ask and would be thrilled for a response to if you have time.
1) What was your inspiration to write Shiloh?
2) Why did you choose a beagle?
3) Will there be more Shiloh books on the way?
4) Did you like the changes the director made to the movie? (example…taking out David Howard and inserting Sam, etc..)
5) What kinds of challenges did you face making your main character come to life since he is a boy?
6) About how long did it take you to write Shiloh?

We read your first story ever that was posted on your website and the kids thought it was violent and hilarious! Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Phyllis replied:

While visiting friends in West Virginia, in the little community of Shiloh, I really did come across an abused dog and could not get her (it was female) out of my mind, so that was my inspiration.  I was overjoyed when I learned that these friends eventually adopted her.  She had the colorings of a beagle, though she was really just a mutt, so I made her a beagle in the story.  There are three more books in the  Shiloh quartet:  Shiloh Season, Saving Shiloh, and A Shiloh Christmas, and David Howard appears in the second and third movies, I believe.  I guess the director wanted a more prominent girl in the movie, so made up the character of Sam.  I have no problem bringing boys to life in my books, as I have two boys of my own, now grown men.  I wrote the first draft of Shiloh in six weeks, the fastest I’ve ever written a book, but then of course there was a lot of polishing and revising to do.  I’m glad your class enjoyed it so much.