Mysteries, historical fiction, Wild West yarns, the life and times of a girl named Alice, scary tales, memoir — prolific writer Phyllis Reynolds Naylor never writes the same type of book twice in a row. That’s how she keeps the work fresh for herself and her readers. After publishing more than 135 books — including the Newbery winner Shiloh and the best-selling Alice series — she truly lives and breathes the life of a writer.
Naylor says that she has to live every character: “It’s like an actor on stage putting on different hats and becoming one character after another.” You can feel that in her books; and the stacks of fan mail she receives reveal how strongly her readers identify with characters like Alice, Marty, the Malloy girls, the Hatford boys, and Bernie Magruder.
