Moorchild

Moorchild

Newberry Honor Award
Oregon Young Reader Book Award

Book talk The Moorchild, by Eloise McGraw is about a young girl who is half-human and half-folk. The Folk are a race of fairies. This girl, Moql, is initially raised with the Folk, but at some point, her half-human genetics are discovered. To the other Folk, this makes her something of a threat to their home. They exchange her for a human baby whom they take into servitude. She becomes a changeling, a fairy that is secretly exchanged for a human baby. Thus Moql, renamed as Saaski starts her life in the human world where she will never quite fit in. She is mistreated by all the villagers, but deeply loved by her mother and father. Her grandmother initially wants to try an get rid of the child because she suspects what Saaski really is, but eventually grows very fond of the child, and attempts to help her through teaching and supporting her. The young girl quickly forgets where she came from and then spends a great deal of time trying to figure out what she really is and was. The villagers mistreat and reject her and come to realize what she is. Saaski’s tale is a struggle to discover who she is and understand herself and her past. When the humans decide that Saaski is the cause of some minor problems, she becomes the subject of intense hatred and fear which results in an attempt to burn her on their midsummer fire. She eventually finds her place in the world, and a companion with which she can be exactly who she is, Saaski.

The novel is rich with the struggle for identity. The girl is so completely alienated that many children will feel her tale very strongly. The book is a Newberry Honor Book, but is not so widely hailed as some of McGraw’s other books. The book is gripping to a child who feels alone, or has some interest in fairies and magic. McGraw’s usage of the changeling as a main character is bold, because this is a creature that was usually believed to be evil and was to be shunned by people, and once discovered, it was to be gotten rid of. Her treatment of such an abused, albeit mythological, creature is very interesting. All things considered, this is a well-written and interesting book, though not quite meaty enough for a unit in a classroom. It would make excellent choice for independent reading, especially for young ladies who are typically more interested in fairy-folk than boys, and who may be able to identify well with a female protagonist.

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Author study on Eloise McGraw
by Earl Foster

Eloise McGraw, the author of The Moorchild, was born back on September ninth, 1915 in Houston, Texas. She was married at the age of twenty-five in 1940. She married a man named William McGraw who was a farmer. Together, they had two children: one boy and one girl. Ms. McGraw’s career did not begin in the field of writing of education. Instead, McGraw began her career as an instructor of portrait painting and figure drawing at Oklahoma City University in Oklahoma. In her spare time, McGraw volunteered to assist English teachers at a local high school in Oklahoma City to grade and to correct English compositions. This must have sparked some kind of an interest in Ms. McGraw, as the remainder of her career has been spent either writing or instructing writing at the university level. Her first college teaching job was at Lewis and Clark College teaching fiction writing classes. She taught numerous other writing classes as well. In addition to her college teaching experiences, she also ran writing workshops for children. She has won numerous awards including the Newberry Honor for The Moorchild. Also, Ms. McGraw has written a total of 21 novels up until writing The Moorchild.

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