Eloise Jarvis McGraw, author of more than 20 books for young readers, died on November 30. She was 84.
McGraw's writing career spanned more than 50 years, and she was three times awarded Newbery Honors, for her last book, The Moorchild (McElderry Books, 1996), for Moccasin Trail (Coward, 1952) and for The Golden Goblet (Coward, 1961). McGraw also wrote A Really Weird Summer (Atheneum, 1977), which won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and Tangled Webb (Macmillan, 1993), which was nominated for that award. McGraw was born in Houston, Tex., and was raised in Oklahoma City. Her first writing appeared in Jack and Jill magazine in 1949, and the following year her first book, Sawdust in His Shoes, was published by Coward. After living in Missouri, Ohio and California, McGraw eventually settled in Oregon with her husband, who passed away last year after 59 years of marriage.
