Moodie, Craig 1956-

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Moodie, Craig 1956-

PERSONAL:

Born 1956, in Lancaster, PA; married; children: two. Education: Graduated from college.

ADDRESSES:

Home—MA. Agent—Andrea Cascardi, Transatlantic Literary Agency, 72 Glengowan Rd., Toronto, Ontario M4N 1G4, Canada.

CAREER:

Technical writer and children's book author. Formerly worked as an advertising copywriter in New York, NY, and Boston, MA; former deckhand on commercial fishing boats.

WRITINGS:

A Sailor's Valentine (short stories), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

Our Perfect Youth: Stories, Waterfront Books (Providence, RI), 1998.

A Man of Many Skies, Waterfront Books (Providence, RI), 2000.

Salt Luck, Waterfront Books (Providence, RI), 2005.

The Sea Singer (for children), Roaring Brook Press (New Milford, CT), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

New England-based fiction writer Craig Moodie grew up on Cape Cod, where the sea became an important part of his life. After graduating from college, he worked in advertising in New YorkCity, but fled the city to return to the sea, spending two years working as a deckhand on a commercial fishing boat before returning to his copywriting career.The Sea Singer, Moodie's novel for young readers, as well as his short-story collection A Sailor's Valentine,were both inspired by their author's love of the sea and his desire to share it. Of the sea, Moodie noted inRambles online: "It was something that really captivated me. It's in my blood."

A Viking tale, The Sea Singer focuses on twelve-year-old Finn, whose father and brothers left on an ocean expedition over a year ago but have not been heard from since. Finn is anxious to discover his father's whereabouts, and Viking explorer Leif Eriksson stops in the boy's village before departing for a long expedition in search of the mythic Vineland, a voyage that will take the crew in the same direction Finn's father was headed. The boy seizes this opportunity to stow away on Eriksson's ship, Sea Sword, in hopes of determining his father's fate. Midway through the voyage, Finn is discovered by the crew and he is immediately put to work on the deck to pay his way on the voyage. As Eriksson and his Viking crew travel through distant lands, they trade goods and discover new cultures. Ultimately, they come across the wreckage of Finn's father's ship, leaving the boy with more questions than answers and determined to discover the truth about his father's fate. Claire Rosser wrote in Kliattthat Moodie's "intriguing" first novel provides young readers with an interesting tale about "early voyages by the Vikings to the coast of North America," while a Kirkus Reviews critic deemed it "a rousing sea adventure." Kimberly Monaghan noted in School Library Journal that Moodie's "plot moves fast enough to hold the interest of reluctant readers and subtly incorporates historical facts about Greenland and the Vikings who rules the Scandinavian seas."