#Eloise McGraw

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[roseunspindle]

Books by Women

[silverslates]

But tell me this book isn't fire

[pulsiferous]

I was obsessed with this book for about two years when I was ten.

[klessard]

Books I have been a bookworm as far as I can remember. I even had my books confiscated as a punishment once and often got scolded for reading in the dark as a child. For me, the nineties were associated with discovering wonderful classics such as Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden and Lucy Maud Montgomery's Emily of New Moon. But three novels published in the nineties also delighted me, and I have read them many times since. I discovered them through the Scholastic catalogue distributed in my English class in high school.

The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw, 1996

Set in medieval Europe, The Moorchild tells the story of a changeling girl named Saaski, born of a human father and a fairy mother. Unable to fit in with the Fae, she is sent to live with a human family, replacing a human baby snatched away to the moor by the fairies. Saaski is odd and cannot fit in with humans either. We see her struggle to make sense of her existence and please her human parents. She eventually finds redemption by returning the stolen child to her adoptive family and choosing a new life with a friend who appreciates her, an orphan goat herder named Tam.

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick, 1993

I read this novel in the early 2000's after seeing Peter Chelsom's 1998 film adaptation of Philbrick's book. Freak the Mighty tells the moving story of Max Kane, a giant teenager with learning disabilities living in his grandparents' basement, the "down under". Max is quiet and introverted, unable to cope with witnessing his mother's tragic death at the hands of his father Kenny Kane who is in prison. His life changes for the better when he meets Kevin, a short boy born with Morquio syndrome whose prodigious intelligence makes up for his physical disability. Perched "high above the world" on Max's shoulders, Kevin takes his big friend on quests, proposing a partnership in which Kevin becomes Max's brain and Max becomes Kevin's legs. Together, they are Freak the Mighty.

What Child is This? by Caroline B. Cooney, 1997

Cooney’s Christmas tale What Child is This? is a heartwarming yet thought-provoking take at how foster children experience the holidays. Here, we meet a foster child named Katie who believes she will get a family for Christmas when she takes part in a program for disadvantaged children who receive a present from generous strangers.

It is a short yet powerful novel I read every Christmas vacation. 

[tathrin]

The Extremely Serious and Scientific Legolas Fandom Hair Colour Poll:

What colour hair do you picture in your head for your personal mental image of Legolas of the Woodland Realm? (Not necessarily which one you think is more or less "canonical"; rather just what you see in your head when you're reading something.)

Ideally, you can also share when and how you were first exposed to Lord of the Rings in the tags or reblogs, and what you think most influenced your mental image.

No I'm not procrastinating from writing stuff, go away.

[beautyofsorrow]

ok well i can't really argue with this one now can i

tagged by @zannolin in another poll which is an EVIL poll -> list your top 10 female characters and then let your followers pick 1

tagging @ceruleanphoenix7 @onmytallesttiptoesspinning @stardustcityhag @73chn1c0l0rr3v3l if you wanna play <3

[book--brackets]

The 13 Clocks by James Thurber (1950)

The hands of all thirteen clocks stand still in the gloomy castle on a lonely hill where a wicked Duke lives with his niece, the beautiful Princess Saralinda. The Duke fancies he has frozen time, for he is afraid that one day a Prince may come and win away the hand of the Princess—the only warm hand in the castle. To thwart that fate, he sets impossible tasks for Saralinda’s suitors. But when the bold Prince Zorn of Zorna arrives, disguised as a wandering minstrel, and helped by the enigmatic Golux, the cold Duke may at last have met his match.

The Edge Chronicles by John Stewart and Chris Riddell (1998-2019)

Fourteen-year-old Quint Verginix is the only remaining son of famous sky-pirate Wind Jackal. He and his father have journeyed to the city of Sanctaphrax – a great floating rock, bound to the ground below by a chain, its inhabitants living with their heads literally in the clouds.

But the city hides a dangerous secret: deep inside the great rock, something horrible lurks. With his father away, Quint may be the only one who can save Sanctaphrax from the dreaded curse of the gloamglozer . . .

The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba (2018-present)

“No killing Goblins.”

So reads the sign outside of The Wandering Inn, a small building run by a young woman named Erin Solstice. She serves pasta with sausage, blue fruit juice, and dead acid flies on request. And she comes from another world. Ours.

It’s a bad day when Erin finds herself transported to a fantastical world and nearly gets eaten by a Dragon. She doesn’t belong in a place where monster attacks are a fact of life, and where Humans are one species among many. But she must adapt to her new life. Or die.

In a dangerous world where magic is real and people can level up and gain classes, Erin Solstice must battle somewhat evil Goblins, deadly Rock Crabs, and hungry [Necromancers]. She is no warrior, no mage. Erin Solstice runs an inn.

She’s an [Innkeeper].

The Moorchild by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (1996)

Half moorfolk and half human, and unable to shape-shift or disappear at will, Moql threatens the safety of the Band. So the Folk banish her and send her to live among humans as a changeling. Named Saaski by the couple for whose real baby she was swapped, she grows up taunted and feared by the villagers for being different, and is comfortable only on the moor, playing strange music on her bagpipes.

As Saaski grows up, memories from her forgotten past with the Folks slowly emerge. But so do emotions from her human side, and she begins to realizethe terrible wrong the Folk have done to the humans she calls Da and Mumma. She is determined to restore their child to them, even if it means a dangerous return to the world that has already rejected her once.

Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean (2006)

In August 2004 the Special Trustees of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, who hold the copyright in Peter Pan, launched a worldwide search for a writer to create a sequel to J. M. Barrie's timeless masterpiece. Renowned and multi award-winning English author Geraldine McCaughrean won the honor to write this official sequel, Peter Pan in Scarlet. Illustrated by Scott M. Fischer and set in the 1930s, Peter Pan in Scarlet takes readers flying back to Neverland in an adventure filled with tension, danger, and swashbuckling derring-do

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V. (2022)

Humanity is on the verge of discovering immortality. As a result, the avatar of Death is cast down to Earth to live a mortal life in Mumbai as twenty-something Laila Starr. Struggling with her newfound mortality, Laila has found a way to be placed in the time and place where the creator of immortality will be born. Will Laila take her chance to stop mankind from permanently altering the cycle of life, or will death really become a thing of the past?

Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton (1937-2000)

Once Mollie and Peter have discovered the Wishing-Chair, their lives are full of adventure. It takes them to all sorts of magical places, from the giant's castle where they rescue Chinky the Pixie, to the amazing party at Magician Greatheart's castle.

Die by Kieron Gillan (2018-2020)

DIE is a pitch-black fantasy where a group of forty-something adults have to deal with the returning unearthly horror they barely survived as teenage role-players.

Poison by Chris Wooding (2003)

Poison has always been a willful, contrary girl, prone to being argumentative and stubborn. So when she discovers that her younger sister has been abducted by the phaeries, she decides to seek out the Phaerie Lord to get her back.

But finding the Phaerie Lord is just the start of it. By leaving home, Poison steps into a murderous world of intrigue and danger, where the Lords of the Realm, a sinister pantheon of demigods, are conspiring to overthrow the Hierophant- the most powerful lord of all. For the Hierophant is writing again, and his pen will decide all their fates... including Poison's.

With only her wits and her friends to aid her, Poison must survive the lethal attentions of the Phaerie Lord, rescue her sister, and thwart a plot that could mean the end of her people. What awaits her is beyond anything she can imagine.

Deeplight by Francis Hardinge (2019)

The gods are dead. Decades ago, they turned on one another and tore each other apart. Nobody knows why. But are they really gone forever?

When 15-year-old Hark finds the still-beating heart of a terrifying deity, he risks everything to keep it out of the hands of smugglers, military scientists, and a secret fanatical cult so that he can use it to save the life of his best friend, Jelt. But with the heart, Jelt gradually and eerily transforms. How long should Hark stay loyal to his friend when he’s becoming a monster—and what is Hark willing to sacrifice to save him?

[thelonelybrilliance]

Just finished my 90th read of the year! Here are 9 recs :)

Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

Eloise Jarvis McGraw, Mara Daughter of the Nile

Dorothy Parker, Enough Rope

C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

Joan Aiken, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

Louise Glück, Vita Nova

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (currently rereading)

Patrick Phillips, Song of the Closing Doors: Poems

[jacksgreysays]

I’m feeling nostalgic for the childrens book The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw (changeling pov by a child who didn’t ask to be swapped out with someone else, the kid eventually goes in to faerie to get the kid back and due to the slow time in Faerie the kid is like, two). So… Changeling!verse where the Nara’s agreement with the fae to raise changelings whenever pregnancy ends in a stillbirth was hammered out by someone who didn’t think to expressly keep the fae from taking the living twin and replacing them as well. (Because hey, technically they ARE the produce of a pregnancy that ended in a stillbirth, and the fae are grabby). In other words, Shikako is a changeling who replaced a baby who never drew breath, Shikamaru is a changeling who replaced the boy baby who DID draw breath, and in this verse eventually baby Kino was Un-kidnapped from faerie by Shikamaru (with Shikako joining in with the force of a speeding bullet). There’s nothing in the ancient contract that stops the changelings from independently kidnapping their sibling back! (They checked) I’d be happy with just an exploration of the dynamics pre-Kino rescue as well. Shikako replaced a dead baby, as in line with the clans traditions. Shikamaru replaced a living one, who might still be out there. The Nara are obliged to raise both ‘as their own.’ How does the clan react?

Oooh, dona, you’ve brought yet another interesting facet to changeling!verse OoO

I’m wondering about the naming of characters and if there’s a bit of a… sort of shuffling? Like, obviously the twins are named Shikamaru and Shikako because Shikaku is unimaginative and also the heir should have a Shika name. But… if the “real” Shikamaru is the non-still born baby, does that mean the rescued child that is younger due to time flow weirdness is genetically Kinokawa and would have been named Shikamaru had he not swapped out? Or is that baby genetically Shikamaru and so the twin brother that Shikako grows up with is genetically Kinokawa?

… not that it would affect the plot, per se, but it’s fascinating the think of. Because if the “firstborn” is supposed to be the heir, then rescued child—as the only actually “born” child—would be heir over his seemingly “older siblings.”

… and then NOW I’m thinking about the stillborn other!Shikako. Like… what DO the fae do with those stillborn babies? What if they revive that other!Shikako? So then that means there’s a set of “human twins” in the fae world and a set of “changeling twins” in the human world? And what do call other!Shikako? In which Shikaku and Yoshino end up with four children, lololol (I should probably stop before I end up in Invincible Kimmy Schmidt “Olson quadruplets, octuplets” bit territory)

I think the clan reaction is ultimately tertiary to 1) Shikaku’s reaction and then, based on (1) 2) Yoshino’s reaction. And I should say, actually, 1) is Shikaku and Kasuga and Sembei’s reactions since they’re the ones who were with Shikaku when they placed the shrouded bundle into the hollow of that old, gnarled tree

Because… do the fae put TWO babies in that hollow? Does Shikaku, confused, rush home to find an empty crib which held the breathing baby boy? Do Kasuga and Sembei figure out what’s going on? Does the history have a precedent for this situation, this loophole taking which strains the agreement between the Nara clan and the fae? Or is it just the one baby in the hollow and no one notices that the baby boy in the crib is different (babies are weird squashed things anyway, who could tell the difference? Or IS there a difference, a series of differences, little details which don’t mean much but do feel… uncanny?)

And, depending on how Shikaku, Kasuga, and Sembei react—what they can dig from the clan’s lore, what they can sense in the shadows, what the Honored Sika Tribe can advise—do they even tell Yoshino? How can they? The exchange was meant to prevent her heartbreak, would she understand as someone new to the clan? Would she blame them? Resent them? (Would she still love these children, even if they are not hers by blood?) ((The answer is yes, of course she would love them, they are her children regardless of blood. The answer is yes, even for the somewhat silly scenario in which she has two sets of twins of differing ages))

I would like to think that Shikaku would tell Yoshino, because their marriage is built on trust and love… but this wouldn’t be the first time I have them keep secrets from each other (ie Yoshino in Stars Also Dream, hiding her Jedi past) Although I’m pretty sure this is a more egregious secret than Yoshino’s secret Jedi past…

Anyways, if Yoshino doesn’t know that “Shikamaru” got switched then the clan also doesn’t know. Both Yoshino and the clan probably know that “Shikako” is a changeling, but the “Shikamaru” switcheroo is probably a secret until the rescue mission happens. And—I’m not even joking now—it would be FASCINATING if there was an other!Shikako. Because the clan could be like, ah fuck, there’s TWO of them. Before realizing that “Shikamaru” is just quieter about his rebellions, so actually, ah fuck, there’s FOUR OF THEM. And I don’t know HOW human children are raised in the fae world, but I imagine they’re kinda feral or at the very least have extremely different priorities/morals from the changeling children raised in a militaristic society.

So other!Shikamaru—whether or not he is genetically Shikamaru or Kinokawa—would be named Kinokawa. But what is other!Shikako named? VagabondDawn did post an absolutely fantastic fic recently shadow of the future (at least we have each other) which included, honestly, one of the greatest Nara names: Inei (ie shadow and shadow) which I think would be very applicable here… OR, is Yoshino equally as efficient-yet-unimaginative as Shikaku when it comes to names (which, I mean, she might be considering she agreed to Deer Boy and Deer Girl and then named her third child her maiden name) and so the boy is Kino and the girl is Kawa? (lol)

The clan truly is just like… the idea that some of them are “we don’t like these clan heirs, we want a different one that doesn’t argue with us” and then they get two feral/fae-raised children so they immediately about face and go “actually, we love the clan heirs that have dragged us kicking and screaming into progress and success, we will keep those ones.” And Shikaku and Yoshino are just like, lol, we’re keeping all of them.

In terms of plot, I feel like the way to actually do this would be to reframe the god interactions as fae interactions so, for example:

—

They got the idea from Orochimaru.

“Probably not the best way to start,” Shikamaru says with a grimace. He, at least, has the decency to act contrite in front Ibiki.

Shikako, disregarding the fact that they are on the wrong side of a T&I interrogation, just rolls her eyes. “We didn’t get the idea from Orochimaru. Technically the Sandaime was the one who opened the portal, and it’s not like he has a monopoly on fuinjutsu or fae studies. If anything, he stole the seal from the Yondaime, and the Yondaime probably built his seal based on Uzumaki mythology. Although, since the fae predate the Elemental Nations as we know it, and we have definitive proof that the Gelel Empire used a form of fuinjutsu, it could be argued that—”

Thankfully, Shikamaru kicks his sister’s ankle to head off the rant. She kicks him back.

Ibiki sighs. “When I said start at the beginning, I don’t need you to get into ancient history. Try again.”

Minimally chastised, the Nara twins begin again:

During Orochimaru’s invasion of the Konoha Chuunin Exams, the Sandaime does not summon the Shinigami. He opens a portal to the fae world, in hopes that the chaotic, magical, anti-chakra energies of the fae world will disrupt the his student’s techniques—either by thwarting the summons of his dead teachers, or by weakening the barrier enough for reinforcements to come through.

In many ways, the Sandaime was a foolish man. In this particular way, his foolishness costs him his life.

The fae energies do not weaken his student at all. Or, at least, not before it weakens and, ultimately, kills the Sandaime. Then, goal achieved, Orochimaru simply uses the portal as an escape route.

For most, it would be perilous. For those originally created in the fae world, for those changelings who are exchanged with human children, it is merely going home.

So, no, they did not get the idea from Orochimaru… not really.

— And then I would go into something like… releasing Gelel sort of gives them the hint that the “human Shikamaru” is still alive and in the fae world. Changeling!Shikamaru doesn’t really want to pursue it, because he feels weird ways about things and if Changeling!Shikamaru is in fact canon!Shikamaru, then he doesn’t really do any internal self-reflection until he’s absolutely pushed to it by someone else and also motivated by protecting his loved ones (either his sister or his teammates)… Changeling!Shikako is fascinated by the idea, but ultimately has SO MUCH on her plate that she can’t really prioritize a dangerous excursion into the fae world (even though she does, from time to time, tweak the original seal array just because it COULD be MORE EFFICIENT if it was LIKE THIS instead)

Then fighting Jashin is some kind of corrupted archfey or something and Shikako getting yoinked out of Land of Hot Springs by the Sika Tribe actually brings her into the fae world, so actually changeling!Shikamaru’s original quest is to rescue Shikako (since time flows differently, what is, like, a day to her is a few weeks to him) meanwhile Shikako meets “human Shikamaru” (aka, Kinokawa. And MAYBE “revived human Shikako” aka… Inei? Kawa? Mystery child) and she can’t possibly LEAVE them, so when Shikamaru (and, let’s face it, a good chunk of Konoha Twelve) come to “rescue” Shikako, they also rescue the new/old Nara sibling(s).

Anyway, the Nara clan will just have to accept that their options for next clan head are all WEIRD AS HELL and REFUSE TO LISTEN TO THE ELDERS :D

[greater-than-the-sword]

do you have any fiction recs that aren't necessarily fantasy? i'm in a bit of a reading slump.

Yeah! Do you like sci-fi?

Some of these are teen fiction or homeschool assigned books, I hope that's ok. I don't know what you've already read, so.

Sci-Fi:

The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury

The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury

Among the Hidden (Shadow Children Series) - Margaret Peterson Haddix

I, Robot (the story collection) - Isaac Asimov

Starship Troopers - Robert A Heinlein

The Last Thing I Remember (Homelanders series) - Andrew Klavan

The City of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau

Historical Fiction

The Sherwood Ring - Elizabeth Marie Pope

Mara, Daughter of the Nile - Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Shadow Spinner - Susan Fletcher

The Bronze Bow - Elizabeth George Speare

Understood Betsy - Dorothy Canfield Fisher

The Great Brain - John D. Fitzgerald

Classic:

A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett

Lord of the Flies - William Golding

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

???:

The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin

Homer Price - Robert McKloskey

[shu-of-the-wind]

stories you have to read to understand my brain:

(this includes both fiction and nonfiction because people need to stop being wimpy about nonfiction tbqh)

i make no promises about the quality of each particular work or whether you will like them personally. some of them i have not reread in years. some of them i reread at least once a year. some of them are for children. some of them are definitely not. google the triggers for each and make your own judgments. this is not in any particular order either.

Sabriel by Garth Nix

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Natinoalism by Seyward Darby

The Moorchild by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Adnan's Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial by Rabia Chaudry

Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement by Katheryn Joyce

The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow by Ono Fuyumi

Ghost Hunt by Ono Fuyumi

Zan'e, or The Inerasable by Ono Fuyumi

Fullmetal Alchemist by Arakawa Hiromu

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni | うみねこのなく頃に by ryukishi07

A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown by Julia Scheeres

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy

Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

Rogue One by Alexander Freed

I Couldn't Even Imagine That They Would Kill Us: An Oral History of the Attacks Against the Students of Ayotzinapa by John Gibler

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Being Lolita: A Memoir by Alisson Wood

The Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend

East by Edith Pattou

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert O. Paxton

On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

Wildthorn by Jane Eagland

Soul Full of Coal Dust: A Fight for Breath and Justice in Appalachia by Chris Hamby

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies

Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies, and Revolution by Laurie Penny

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

My Man, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

[bramblepatch]

I saw q lot of silly asks about a nasty person, so I got to ask something even more important, pressing and somewhat useful.

What is your favaourite book?

Oh that's a hard one!

Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor grabs me by the heartstrings on every single reread, but Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment is always going to be on my short list, as will Garth Nix's Sabriel and its sequels.

And it's a kid's book, but Eloise McGraw's The Moorchild will always have a place in my heart and on my shelf.

[aliteraryprincess]

books ask bait: everything ending in 3, please!

Thank you!

3. what is your preferred genre?

I guess classics, if you can really count that as a genre. But I also love fantasy.

13. what was the last book you read?

The last one I finished was "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which I just read for the first time (I know, I know, I'm very late to the party). I loved it!

23. what book to movie adaptation do you love?

Stand By Me (1986), which is an adaptation of Stephen King's novella The Body, which can be found in the collection Different Seasons. It's an excellent adaptation that stays true to the source material. And when it does change things, I actually think it's for the better.

33. what was your favorite childhood book?

There are so many, but two notable ones are The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye and The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw. I read them over and over.

43. do you donate books when you are finished or keep them to come back to later?

I tend to keep them. For ones that I really don't think I'll come back to, I do eventually donate them. But it takes me a while.

[dungeons-and-dictions]

These books are near and dear to me, each having an impact on who I am today in addition to just being excellent reads:

Classic Lit #1: Les Miserables, Abridged by Victor Hugo

Classic Lit #2: A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Postmodern Lit: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Sci-fi: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Childhood: The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw

Self-Help: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

Drama: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Fantasy Series: Abhorsen by Garth Nix

Comedy: Don Quixote (Volumes 1 & 2) by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Shakespeare: Hamlet

Gen Children’s Lit: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Fantasy #1: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

Fantasy #2: The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem

Horror: Dracula by Bram Stoker

Play: Faustus by Goethe

Fairy Tale Retelling: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

Fairy Tale Retelling Series: Pippington Tales by L. Palmer

I’m happy to explain why any of these are my favorites; just ask!