Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was born in Anderson, Indiana. She grew up during the Great Depression. Her parents read stories to her when she was younger. She began writing her own stories when she was in elementary school. She wrote short stories and articles before attempting to write a novel.

When she was 16 years old, a Sunday school teacher asked her to write a story for the church magazine. Her first story called Mike’s Hero, was accepted and was published. She received $ 4.67 for her story. When she was 18 years old, she got married. After graduating from community college, she and her then husband went to Chicago. She worked as a clinical secretary in a university hospital during that time. She also worked as a elementary school teacher and editor for a magazine.

Naylor returned to American University and tried to obtained a Bachelor of arts degree in clinical psychology. Before going to graduate school, she decided to become a full-time author.

In 1960, she married Rex Naylor. Her first children's book called The Galloping Goat and Other Stories was published in 1965.

She has received two Edgar Awards in the Best Juvenile Mystery category, for Night Cry (1984) and Bernie Magruder & the Bats in the Belfry (2003).She has received 25 awards in all.

• How I Came to Be a Writer
• Crazy Love: An Autobiographical Account of Marriage and Madness
• The Keeper
• Night Cry
• Collections
• Grasshoppers in the Soup (1965)
• The Galloping Goat and Other Stories (1965)
• Knee Deep in Ice Cream (1967)
• Dark Side of the Moon (1969)
• The Private I, and Other Stories (1969)
• Ships in the Night (1970)
• Never Born a Hero (1982)
• A Triangle Has Four Sides (1984)

• What the Gulls Were Singing

• Alice series
• The Agony of Alice (1985)
• Alice in Rapture, Sort of (1989)
• Reluctantly Alice (1991)
• All but Alice (1992)
• Alice in April (1993)
• Alice in-Between (1994)
• Alice the Brave (1995)
• Alice in Lace (1996)
• Outrageously Alice (1997)
• Achingly Alice (1998)
• Alice on the Outside (1999)
• The Grooming of Alice (2000)
• Alice Alone (2001)
• Simply Alice (2002)
• Starting With Alice (2002)
• Alice in Blunderland (2003)
• Patiently Alice (2003)
• Including Alice (2004)
• Lovingly Alice (2004)
• Alice on Her Way (2005)
• Alice in the Know (2006)
• Dangerously Alice (2007)
• Almost Alice (2008)
• Intensely Alice (2009)
• Alice in Charge (2010)
• Incredibly Alice (to be released in 2011)

• Shiloh series
• Shiloh (1991)
• Shiloh Season (1996)
• Saving Shiloh (1997)

• Cat Pack series
• The Grand Escape by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and Alan Daniel (1993)
• The Healing of Texas Jake by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and Alan Daniel (1997)
• Carlotta's Kittens by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and Alan Daniel (2000)
• Polo's Mother by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and Alan Daniel (2005)

• The Boys Start the War series
• The Boys Start the War (1992)
• The Girls Get Even (1993)
• Boys Against Girls (1994)
• The Girls' Revenge (1998)
• A Traitor Among the Boys (1999)
• A Spy Among the Girls (2000)
• The Boys Return (2001)
• The Girls Take Over (2002)
• Boys in Control (2003)
• Girls Rule! (2004)
• Boys Rock! (2005)
• Who Won the War? (2006)

• Being Danny's Dog
• Danny's Desert Rats (1998)
• Ice (1995)
• Sang Spell
• Beetles, Lightly Toasted
• Walker's Crossing (1987)
• Eddie, Incorporated (1980)

• The Witch Saga series
• Witch's Sister (1975)
• Witch Water (1977)
• The Witch Herself (1978)
• The Witch's Eye (1990)
• Witch Weed (1991)
• The Witch Returns (1992)
• the fear place
• The Galloping Goat
• Jade Green: A Ghost Story (1999)
• The Year of the Gopher
• The Fear Place

• Besseldorf Mysteries
• The Mad Gasser of Bessledorf Street (1983)
• The Bodies in the Bessledorf Hotel (1986)
• Bernie Magruder & the Haunted Hotel (1990)
• Bernie and the Bessledorf Ghost (1993)
• Bernie Magruder & the Drive-Thru Funeral Parlor (1993)
• Bernie Magruder and the Bus Station Blow-Up (1996)
• Bernie Magruder and the Parachute Peril (1999)
• Bernie Magruder and the Pirate's Treasure (1999)
• Bernie Magruder and the Case of the Big Stink (2001)
• Bernie Magruder & the Bats in the Belfry (2003)

• York Trilogy
• Shadows on the Wall (1980)
• Faces in the Water (1981)
• Footprints at the Window (1981)

• Picture books
• Meet Murdock (1969)
• How Lazy Can You Get? (1979)
• All Because I'm Older (1981)
• The Boy with the Helium Head (1982)
• Old Sadie and the Christmas Bear (1984)
• The Baby, the Bed, and the Rose (1987)
• Keeping a Christmas Secret (1989)
• King of the Playground (1991)
• Ducks Disappearing (1996)
• I Can't Take You Anywhere! (1997)
• Sweet Strawberries (1999)
• Roxie and the Hooligans (2006)
• Cuckoo Feathers (2006)
• Faith, Hope, and Ivy June