The Moorchild

The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw, 1996 Margaret K McElderry Books

     Moql is a threat to the Moorfolk band: half-folk and half-human she cannot shift her shape or become invisible. The Folk Prince banishes her to the nearby town to replace the smith's daughter whom the Folk kidnap.
     A Changeling among her human village Moql is named Saaski by her new parents and as she grows Saaski strives to be a good human child. But she it teased, harassed, taunted and feared by the villagers and their children. Saaski only finds peace on the moor, marking her as even more different than the other village children.
     On the moor Saaski meets Tam, a young man who travels with the Tinker. He doesn't seem to fit in either and accepts Saaski for who she is, despite his occasional suspicion of her background. Tam and Saaski become fast friends and his acceptance is a balm when her only pleasure is the discovery of her human grandfather's bagpipes.
     Saaski fights her otherness and strives to fit in, but as she grows her memories of the band begin to return and Moql becomes more than a story she's made up from a dream. When the village comes down with a case of the chicken pox, things begin to go awry for the child and she begins to fully remember the Folk and their Mound.
     Saaski discovers her human emotions along with her minor Folk magics. With the discovery of her past she finds a great injustice done to these humans who have cared for her for eleven years. With the help of friends old and new, Saaski seeks to right the wrong and escape the villager's tyranny.
     An eclectic mix of faerie magic and human superstition, The Moorchild explores what happens to the changeling left behind when she really is Folk. McGraw writes for elementary readers in this historical fantasy.