Quotable: Greensleeves by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

I was recently rereading one of my favorite books from my teenage years, a gem by Eloise Jarvis McGraw whose more popular titles include The Moorchild, Mara: Daughter of the Nile, The Golden Goblet and The Moccasin Trail. While all of these are worthy books, I consider McGraw's masterpiece to be her little known Greensleeves. You can see how popular it is by looking at its high prices for used copies with Amazon and other used booksellers.

To my knowledge it has never been reprinted since it's original run in the late 1960s. Somehow I discovered it dusty and neglected on the school library shelf a few decades later, borrowed it and fell in love. No, it doesn't have much of a fairy tale influence although one could argue for it being a brilliant modern day (albeit 1960s, so not so modern) Cinderella. There's a secret identity, a fairy godfather of sorts and a hero who behaves like a prince.

But its appearance on this blog is brought about by a small quote during a conversation between the main character and a friend. Here it is:

“There’s a whole book here about it that she used to read me out of. She used to read me Grimm’s Fairy Tales, too.” Wynola glanced at me defensively. “You might think I was too old for those, but she read them herself, all the time. She said fairy tales were good for people.”

“Good for people? How?”

“Well said, ‘Same way helium is good for a balloon.’”

What more can I say? Until tomorrow...