When Eloise Jarvis McGraw died at the age of eighty-four on November 30, 2000, it marked the end of a career spanning more than fifty years. She had garnered the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award for fantasy writing, the Edgar Award from Mystery Writers of America, and three Newbery Honor Awards. "Mrs. McGraw was able to believably capture the thoughts and feelings of children, particularly the 10-14 age group that was her primary audience," explained an obituary writer for the Oregonian. "She was a meticulous researcher who went to great lengths to make sure her books were accurate, both in their emotions and their historical details."

McGraw has many interests throughout her adult life, ranging in intensity from minor hobbies to all-out obsessions and included drawing, painting and printmaking, dancing, stagecraft, acting, directing, puppetry, ceramics, enamel-on-metal work, drill-team horseback riding, and studying ancient Egyptian history and customs. After 1949, however, her...