Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - 1933
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Campbell County High School, Gillette, Wyoming
I. Biography
Naylor was born on January 4, 1933 in Anderson, Indiana. Her father was a traveling salesman so they were always on the move. Many of her novels were set where her grandparents lived in Iowa and Maryland. She spent many summers with her grandparents in these places.
Naylor grew up during the Depression. She never really thought that her family was poor because her family owned a number of good books, which her parents read to her and her siblings. When she was in primary school, Naylor began making up her own stories. She also illustrated them. Her reputation as a good writer followed her, and she was often called upon to give poems and stories for special occasions at school.
When Naylor was sixteen, her Sunday school teacher asked her to submit one of her stories to the church magazine she was publishing. Naylor's story was accepted and this encouraged her to write and submit more. Naylor admits that these stories were, in her own works, "not very original" and "predictable." (Grummond)
At the age of eighteen, Naylor married. After she graduated from junior college, she moved to Chicago with her husband. Here she worked as a clinical secretary while he attended graduate school. She also worked as an elementary school teacher. She was assistant editor for the NZA Journal. Years later Naylor's husband began showing signs of severe mental illness. He was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. When it became apparent that her husband was not going to recover, she filed for divorce and married Rex V. Naylor.
Soon after, she returned to college and majored in clinical psychology at America University. By the time she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, she decided she would become a full-time writer. Her first book, The Galloping Goat and Other Stories. Since then she has published a book every year. She has won many awards over the years including: Junior Literacy Guild, the Edgar, the Newberry Award for Shiloh (1991).
Naylor and her husband live in Bethesda, Maryland. They have two grown sons. Despite her busy schedule, the author is active in peace and civil right organization. (Grummond)
II. A Book about Wyoming
Walker's Crossing was written in 1999. It is a book about a boy named Ryan that lives on a large ranch in Wyoming. Ryan's older brother Gil belongs to an organization known as the Mountain Patriots Association, a local militia group that are convinced the U.S. government and many minorities are going to take over the area. The ranch community becomes divided by this group and Ryan must choose for himself. Would the right decision be to join Gil and his group? He learns what it really means to be a man and how to find your place in a world that is forever changing.
III. Literary Works
Saving Shiloh (1997)
All Because I'm Older (1981)
An Amish Family (1974)
The Baby, The Bed, and The Rose (1987)
Bernie and the Besseldorf Ghost (1990)
The Bodies in the Besseldorf Hoel (1986)
The Boy with the Helium Head (1982)
Eddie, Incorporated (1980)
Faces in the Water (1981) Footprints at the Window (1981)
Getting Along in Your Family (1976)
Getting Along with Your Friends (1980)
Getting Along with Your Teachers(1981)
How I Came to be a Writer (1978/1987)
How Lazy Can You Get? (1979)
How to Find Your Wonderful Someone (1972)
Jennifer Jean, The Cross-Eyed Queen (1967)
Knee-Deep in Ice Cream and Other Stories (1967)
The Mad Gasser of Besseldorf Street (1983)
Making It Happen (1970)
Never Born a Hero (1982)
The New Schoolmaster (1967)
Shadows on the Wall (1980)
Ships in the Night (1970)
A String of Chances (1982)
To Walk the Sky Path (1973)
A Triangle has Four Sides (1984)
Walking Through the Dark (1976)
When Rivers Meet (1968)
The Witch Herself(1978)
Witch Weed (1991)
The Witch's Eye (1990)
Wrestle the Mountain (1971)
Night Cry (1984
Shiloh (1991)
Walker's Crossing (1999)
The Galloping Goat and Other Stories (1965)
What the Gulls Were Singing (1967)
IV. An Interview with Phyllis Naylor
Amazon.com talks to Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Amazon.com: How did you begin writing? Did you intend to become an author, or do you have a specific reason or reasons for writing each book?
P.N.: Writing was a hobby all through childhood, and after I began selling short stories, I was able to pay most of my college tuition. I had planned to be a clinical psychologist, but decided that writing was really my first love, so gave up plans for graduate school and began writing full time.
Amazon.com: What authors do you like to read? What book or books have had a strong influence on you or your writing?
P.N.: I seem to like the southern writers, because they tend to write about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary situations. Mark Twain probably had more influence on my writing than any other author, perhaps because my father read Twain's books to us when we were young, and many of them in Huckleberry Finn in particular in stayed with me for a long time.
Amazon.com: Could you describe the mundane details of writing: How many hours a day do you devote to writing? Do you write a draft on paper or at a keyboard? Do you have a favorite location or time of day for writing? What do you do to avoid or seek-- distractions?
P.N.: I probably write, on average, about six hours a day. The first two or three drafts are done in longhand on a clipboard; then the manuscript is typed on my computer and revised countless times. I'm a morning person, so prefer doing the hand writing in early morning. I'll write anywhere I won't be interrupted in trains, planes, restaurants, libraries-- most of it is done at home in my favorite chair.
Amazon.com: Do you meet your readers at book signing, conventions, or similar events? Do you interact with your readers electronically through e-mail or other online forums?
P.N.: I seem to meet readers everywhere. Because Amtrak is my favorite form of transportation, and dinners in the diner last for an hour and a half, there is ample time to meet people and talk with them at length. I speak in schools, at conferences, book singings, etc. and also respond to reader's questions via my "Alice" website,
http://www.simonsays.com/alice
Amazon.com: When and how did you get started on the Net? Do you read any news groups such as rec.arts.books and rec.arts.sf.written, mailing lists, or other on-line forums?
Do you use the Net for research ñ or is it just another time sink? Are you able to communicate with other writers or people you work with over the net?
P.N.: I started on the Net reluctantly when it soon became obvious that my ancient trusted word processor would not hold up forever. I do some, but no much, research on the net.
Since my secretary is a part-time children's librarian, she can find the information I need far quicker than I can find it on the computer. I communicate with a number of writers by email. (Amazon.com) V. References
"Amazon.com talks to Phyllis Reynolds Naylor." Amazon.com "Phyllis Renyolds Naylor Papers," USM de Grummond Collection Naylor, Phyllis. Walker's Crossing New York: Simon and Schuster Publishing Division.
1999. This essay was submitted by students of Nathel Coca, a teacher at Campbell County High School in Gillette, Wyoming.