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.