A String in the Harp (46 page)

Map and frontispiece drawing by Allen Davis

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblancen to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 1976 by Nancy Bond
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole
or in part in any form.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS and colophon are trademarks
of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Also available in a Margaret K. McElderry hardcover edition.
First Aladdin Paperbacks edition March 1996
Second Aladdin Paperbacks edition January 2007

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Bond, Nancy.
A string in the harp
“A Margaret K. McElderry book.”
Summary: Relates what happens to three American children, unwillingly transplanted to Wales for one year, when one of them finds an ancient harp-tuning key that takes him back to the time of the great sixth-century bard Taliesin.
[1. Space and time—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.B63684St [Fic] 75-28181
ISBN-13: 978-0-698-50036-7 (hc)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4424-6594-7 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 0-689-50036-X (hc)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-2771-6 (pbk)
ISBN-10: 1-4169-2771-9 (pbk)

An Aladdin Reading Group Guide to
A String in the Harp

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About this Book

The Morgans are miserable. Jen, Peter, and Becky—still reeling from their mother’s death—don’t know quite what to make of their father’s decision to spend a year in Wales, far from everything the family knows. Jen wants her father to take care of the family’s problems, Peter wants him to take them home, and Becky just wants everyone to take a break from fighting. When Peter finds a mysterious object on the beach—one that sings to him and shows him scenes from an ancient life—he finds himself pulled further and further into the past and away from his family. Will this archaic magic pull the family completely apart . . . or save them?

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Discussion Questions

• How do each of the Morgans deal with their grief over their recent loss? How do each of these methods effect the family as a whole?

• Who is responsible for the family . . . for their decisions and their happiness? Does this change as the story progresses? Who is best equipped to deal with this responsibility? Do you think that any of the decisions that are made are bad ones?

• There are a number of “characters” in this book who are very important to the plot, but who aren’t present in the narrative, or
don’t interact with the other characters, or who aren’t even human. Discuss these characters . . . who they are, why they are important to the story, and why the author included them.

• In what ways is Peter “helping” the key? In what ways is the key helping Peter? Which is affected more by the experience?

• How do the different characters feel about magic? On what do they base their opinions? What is the relationship between science and magic?

• In what ways do Dr. Rhys and Dr. Owen differ? Why do they still get along? Why do Jen and Peter each turn to Dr. Rhys for help? Is he able to help them?

• Dr. Owen argues that Welsh artifacts belong to Wales and that their proper place is in a museum, not with the people who found them. Do you agree with this argument? Did Peter have the right to keep the key as long as he did, or to leave it under Nant-y-moch? Do you think that the Welsh tendency to define people as outsiders if their ancestors weren’t Welsh has any bearing on this question?

• Peter comes to see time as a bunch of layers, one on top of another. How does this change the way he views his life and his experience in Wales? How do the other characters react when these layers start to bleed into one another? How does the author’s writing style reflect this concept of time being a series of layers?

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Activities

• The Morgans often talk about the fact that they are learning the Welsh language. Perhaps you can learn a bit of Welsh, too. See if you can find a history of the language, a Welsh-English dictionary, or maybe even someone in your town who can speak Welsh, and learn a few simple phrases.

• Visit a museum and think about where the artifacts came from, how they add to the history of your culture, and who might have used them before.

• Taliesin was a bard, charged with orally preserving the stories of his community before there was a written language. Are there any stories in your family or your town that have never been written down? Write them down now so that they won’t be lost. Or become a modern-day bard by turning one of these stories into a song or poem that you can recite.

• This book is full of the folklore, legend, and mythology of Wales, all of which is closely tied to the land. Native-American mythology is the closest parallel the United States has to this. Read some of these Native-American legends and folk tales.

• Taliesin used the key to tune his harp, which was an integral part of his profession. Listen to some harp music, either live performances or recordings.