Changeling Plucks At Heartstrings

The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw

Dear Saralinda:*

There are many reasons stories appeal to us. It might be because they make us laugh. It might be because they make us cry. It might be that they warm us with the familiar or tickle us with the unusual.

Then there are those stories that strum a chord of empathy. The circumstances may be entirely foreign to us, but the emotions and the plight are like peepshows into our heart.

The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw is one of the latter books. The setting is definitely distant. It is in an old village set in the undefined past in one of the British Isles. I suspect the time predates fiercely drawn political boundaries. It certainly predates any sort of industrial technology.

Likewise, you and I do not inhabit a world that believes in Fairy or other Folk. Our world is rather devoid of such fanciful magic. We're an imminently practical people who see little danger or wonder in the magic of lore.

So it seems odd to say that we would identify strongly with Moql, a changeling, half-Folk, half-Human child. Moql is kicked out of the world of Folk because the human blood runs too strong in her. They kidnap a newborn babe to use as a bewitched servant and put Moql unwillingly into the child's place. But Moql, who is renamed Saaski, never quite fits in with the humans either. She is strange, different, a misfit. And people can be cruel to and fearful of what they don't understand.

In many ways, The Moorchild is a dark tale. There is very little happiness in Saaski's life. She is rejected by nearly everyone. Even her mother and father who raise her and are devoted to her do not understand her. They spend much of her childhood trying to restrain her and tame the wild spirit that is so foreign to them. Even though they love her, Saaski isn't able to understand love, it being something absent from Fairy lands and hearts.

So why does this book resonate with us? Because we know what it is like to be isolated. We know what it is like to hide those parts of us that are "different" and might invite mocking. I don't think there is a person on this planet who hasn't felt misunderstood or isolated at some point in his or her life. This book illustrates the struggle between accepting who we are or hiding that which is different.

The Moorchild won a Newberry Honor Award in 1997. It competed with such books as Nancy Farmer's A Girl Named Disaster and the winning book, E.L. Konigsburg's The View From Saturday. Eloise McGraw was born in 1915 in Texas. She married a farmer and eventually became an instructor of portrait painting and figure drawing. She eventually began teaching writing and producing her own novels-more than 20.

I enjoyed The Moorchild because it showed Saaski overcoming hostility and making difficult choices. Amid the pain and discomfort, there were many warm moments and Saaski, the protagonist, wasn't the only character to change and grow. McGraw doesn't give us all the answers about our own search for identity and overcoming isolation and hostility, but she does show us a possible path.

Love,
Aunt Bridgette

I'm reading and reviewing juvenile fiction in search of books that my niece would enjoy. With each book that I send her, I'm enclosing a letter sharing my experience with the book. After I strip out the strictly personal information that the letters contain, I'll post them here as reviews. After all, my goal in the letter is to encourage her to read the book and make her experience with it more enjoyable, perhaps I can do the same for you.

* I've changed my niece's name to protect her identity. Saralinda is a name I borrowed from another beloved children's book. She's the princess in James Thurber's The 13 Clocks.

--B. Redman