Shiloh

Dear Phyllis,
I loved the book Shiloh. I thought it was really suspenseful and exciting! I really liked the part where Ma agreed to keep Shiloh a secret until the next day. I thought it was really cool how expecting, tense and full of suspense the end of chapter 8 is. I was expecting Ma to get mad and bring Shiloh back to Judd Travers. But she didn’t!
A really exciting part is when Shiloh gets hurt. Dad found out! So did Dara Lynn and Becky. I was sure Dad was going to to take Shiloh back to Judd Travers. What made you decide for both parents to keep a secret? I was super surprised.
My favorite page in the whole book is page 144. I think it is super interesting how Judd gives Marty a dog collar for Shiloh (144). I think Judd is getting nicer. I also love how they are playing with Shiloh in the yard in the end. It makes it clear that Shiloh is officially part of the family(144).
I thought it was mysterious how Judd asked Marty if he wanted a ride on page 63. He might have hurt Marty or not taken him to David Howard’s. Maybe he would keep him in his truck until he found out where Shiloh was.
Marty was brave to stand up to Judd when he killed the deer. He had a gun in his hands and was a grown man. I think he had Judd in a really good position. Judd could either go to jail or he could give Marty Shiloh. I thought Marty might tell about the deer to his parents but he kept his part of the deal.
I also thought he would get caught building a pen and feeding Shiloh much sooner. I thought your book was awesome! How did you decide to write about a mistreated dog?

Phyllis replied:

I’m glad there were surprises for you in the book.  If everything had turned out just as you thought, it wouldn’t be so suspenseful, right?   I wrote about a mistreated dog because I found such a dog in Shiloh, West Virginia, which was later adopted by friends of ours who lived there.