Your Own Life?

Question:

Hi, Mrs. Naylor! I love your books, and the way I can nod in agreement when Alice feels a certain way. Alice is my best friend, and she always will be, whether she is 13 or 60. There isn’t much distance between us, because we both live in the Northeastern part of the U.S. I’m from New Jersey. Well, there isn’t much more to say except that I love you, and you’re my favorite author ever. You’re my role model. Ever since I was about 9, I’ve known that writing was my calling, and reading the Alice Series has only increased the intensity in that fact. I guess, if I had to ask you a question, it would be: Which of the Alice books most resembles the experiences of your life? Thank you so much for writing the Alice Series! I can’t wait for “Now I’ll Tell You Everything” to be released!

Phyllis replied:

It wouldn’t be any one book, but there are number of experiences that were either mine, similar to mine, or that happened to a friend.  Playing Tarzan with Donald Sheavers actually happened to me back in fourth or fifth grade, and it still embarrasses me to think about it.  Overhearing something intimate in my parents’ bedroom was another, though I was definitely not hiding in their closet.  Falling down the stairs and wetting her pants actually happened to my mother the first day of her high school back in 1914.  I’m so glad you love the Alice books.  Thanks for writing.