Hey, everyone, this is Iron Guy Carl and our blog is honored today! One of the most well-known authors in the whole realm of kid books has given us an interview. I'm talking, of course, about the one and only
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, author of 140 books (!), including
Shiloh, a modern-day classic and a great book for guys, one that you'll probably read in high school. Included in that noteworthy list of books is the whole
Boys vs Girls series that I wrote about over the last few months. Those books were
soooo good that I had to write Ms. Naylor and ask her a few questions. And she was good enough to answer them! Let's hear what she had to say:
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| Ms. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor |
Iron Guy Carl:
I’ve heard this nasty
rumor that it’s uncool for boys to read. I bet you disagree. Tell us why.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor: Why in the world would it be uncool
for boys to read? Guys write, don't they? Some of our best
stories and books are written by guys! Boys often have great
adventures and pretty wild imaginations, so it's not surprising that some
of them write wonderful books when they grow up.
IGC: I’ve heard the story
of how you came to write the Boys vs. Girls series but most of our boys
probably haven’t heard it. Would you tell it to us?
PRN: A publisher had asked me
to think about writing a new series, but I wasn't sure I wanted to get involved
with another one. I told them that if I could think of a universal theme,
I might do it, but I'd have to think about it. Then one day I was going
to speak to a huge crowd of students in an elementary school. As they
entered the gym, they were laughing and shouting and having a good time, and it
didn't bother me a bit, as I hadn't started my talk. But it evidently did
bother one of the teachers, because he yelled, "If you don't quiet down
I'm going to seat you boy/girl/boy/girl, and instantly the whole gym was
quiet. I thought this was pretty funny, and said to myself, "That's
it! The way boys and girls feel about each other at this age. I'll write a series, and the first book will be, "The Boys Start the
War." The second will be, "The Girls Get Even."
IGC: I know it isn’t fair
to ask this type of question of authors but I just have to know—what do you
think is the funniest episode in those books? (there are so many to choose
from!)
PRN: You know, it's been a long time
since I wrote those books, but the first episode that comes to mind is in the very first book, after
the boys have dumped some dead birds on the girls'side of the river to
make them think the water is polluted. So the girls, knowing the boys are
spying on them, carry Caroline down to the water in a sheet, as though she is
dead, and with a great show of tears, dump her into the
water.
IGC: There are twelve
books in this series, one for each month of the year. That’s a lot!Was it hard to write that many books?
Was it hard to keep coming up with so many funny incidents? And it took 13
years to write all of them. That’s a long time! Was it difficult to keep it
going all that time? Did you keep writing only those books during that time or
did you work on others? And did you plan out the whole series before you
started or did you make it up as you went along? (Yes, these are a lot of
questions under one question!)
PRN: Well,
considering that I recently completed an "Alice" series, of 28 books,
that took 28 years to write, twelve books didn't seem like so many. A
series book, once I know the characters and setting well, usually takes about
six months to write, and then I have six months to write something else.
I kept a long list of various events that could take place in each book,
and once I got started writing, other things naturally came to mind.
IGC: The town of Buckman,
West Virginia is based on the real town of Buckhannon, WV, where your husband
is from. Did you go there very often? Have you been there since the books were
published? If so, has the town
changed much? Is Oldakkers
Book Store still there?
PRN: I've been there a number of times, both to research the
series and for college reunions. The last I heard, that bookstore is still there, with the
trap door in the floor. (I climbed down the ladder to take a peek) It's been several years since we were back, so perhaps the store has a different name now, I'm not sure. The first time
my husband took me there after we were married, one of the
swinging footbridges across the river was still there. When he was growing up, there were two. The lovely college has
expanded with a number of new buildings, but the house on Island Avenue where my husband
lived is much like it was.
IGC: One more thing—the first book was published in 1993 before there were
smart phones or even cell phones. In the first book Caroline gets locked in a
tool shed and has to wait until someone came around to let her out. Do kids
ever ask you why she didn’t just use her phone to call her sisters? And there
was no email. The Hartford boys actually wrote letters to the Bensons—and had to wait for letters to come back! Do
any kids tell you it seems strange nowadays?
PRN: I've
not heard that, but I suppose it must seem strange. Cell phones make huge
problems for writers. It used to be that we had to think of clever
ways to get the parents out of the picture so that when a kid was faced with a
problem, he had to solve it himself. Now, if every kid has a cell phone
in his pocket, where's the conflict in that? I think that's one reason so
many writers write fantasy. No problem about cell phones there.
Actually, I have a new book coming out in January called GOING WHERE IT'S DARK,
in which a boy gets into great difficult inside a cavern. He has a cell
phone, but there's no service.
IGC: The last question. I
ask this of all authors. Which do you prefer—cheeseburgers or pizza? What
do you like on them?
PRN: Hmmm. That's close. A thin-crust pizza with
mushrooms and sausage, please.
Got one coming up! Thanks, Ms. Reynolds! We really appreciate it. If you guys would like to know more about Ms. Reynolds and her books, including the terrific Boys vs. Girls series, check out her new website at www.phyllisnaylor.com
And in honor of your outstanding books and being so good to let us interview you, we're going to give you the greatest honor we could possibly bestow and make you an Honorary Guy.
That's right--you now have the right to crack all the goofy jokes you'd like, make obnoxious noises at sporting events and eat insane amounts of food with no nutritional value. Yes, I know you're stunned at the greatness of this honor but don't worry--you've
earned it!
All silliness aside, we truly appreciate your coming here and talking to us. And I'm going to look for your new book! Thanks again and, boys, be sure to check out her website but, more importantly, head over to your local library and check out her books!
(PS--if you'd like to see what the Iron Guy has said about the Boys vs Girls books, click on the "Boys vs Girls" tab under this post)
Summary: Legos inspired me to read lego comic books. This book is about
Laval, the lion... Cragger, the crocodile and Eris the eagle. They fight back
against the ice hunters. And take back the skies of Chima using "The power
of fire Chi".
