Author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s own paternal grandparents were the model for the strong, loving Mammo and Pappo in Faith, Hope, and Ivy June — a Prince and the Pauper style story set in West Virginia coal mining country.
When author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor starts a story, even she doesn’t know where it might lead. With Shiloh, Naylor discovered that she was really writing a story about the gray area between right and wrong.
Although author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor never writes about people in her own life, they often form the spark for a fictional character. She has to fully inhabit each character she writes about.
