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, P.O. Box 349, Rockville Centre, NY 11571.

Career

Children's book author and marketing writer for a Fortune 500 company. Formerly worked as an advertising copywriter in New York, NY, and Boston, MA; former deckhand on commercial fishing boats.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN

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

OTHER

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.

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 York City, 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 in Rambles 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 have left on an ocean expedition and have not been heard from for over a year. Finn is anxious to discover his father's whereabouts, and when Viking explorer Leif Eriksson stops in the boy's village before departing for a long expedition in search of the mythic Vineland, he realizes that Eriksson's voyage will take the same direction Finn's father did. The boy seizes this opportunity to stow away on Eriksson's ship, Sea Sword, in hopes of determining his father's fate. Early in the voyage, Finn is discovered by the crew and he is immediately put to work on the deck to pay his way. In the face of peril at sea, and in the harsh, unexplored land he visits with Eriksson, Finn grows as a Viking, and grows into his nickname of "Reckless Skald," referencing a poet who composes and recites great tales of Vikings' deeds. 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 Kliatt that 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

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fast enough to hold the interest of reluctant readers and subtly incorporates historical facts about Greenland and the Vikings who rule the Scandinavian seas."