Nancy Bond

Nancy Barbara Bond
Born	(1945-01-08)January 8, 1945 Bethesda, Maryland
Occupation	Children's Author, Librarian, Professor
Nationality	American
Education	B. A. in English, Degree in librarianship
Alma mater	B.A. Mount Holyoke College, College of Librarianship in Wales
Subject	children's fantasy, historical fiction
Notable works	A String in the Harp
Notable awards	Newbery Honor, Tir na n-Og Award

Nancy Barbara Bond is an American author of children's literature. In 1977 her first book, a fantasy novel set in Wales called A String in the Harp, received a Newbery honor and the Welsh Tir na n-Og Award.

Life

Nancy Barbara Bond was born January 8, 1945 in Bethesda, Maryland, and grew up near Concord, Massachusetts. When Bond was eight the family spent a year in London while her father was on a Fulbright Scholarship. She graduated from high school in Concord, Massachusetts, then received her B.A. in English Literature from Mount Holyoke College in 1966. In 1972 she received a graduate degree from the College of Librarianship in Wales.

Bond worked in Boston for Houghton Mifflin publishing from 1966 to 1967, then for two years in London in the promotions department of Oxford University Press. After that Bond was an assistant librarian for the Lincoln, Massachusetts Public Library from 1969-1971. In 1972 Bond obtained a graduate degree from the College of Librarianship in Aberystwyth, Dyfed, Wales. After returning to the United States she looked for a job and began writing her first book, set near Aberystwyth. Bond became head librarian in the Gardner, Massachusetts library in 1973.

A String in the Harp appeared in 1976. Set near Aberystwyth where Bond attended college, it tells the story of an American family spending a year in Wales after the death of their mother. Bond told an interviewer, "Each of my stories is tied firmly to a geographical setting which plays an important part in the development of the book." She served as administrative assistant in the Massachusetts Audubon Society from 1976 to 1977. Her second book, The Best of Enemies, was published in 1978. From 1979 to 2001 Bond taught at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature. Since then she has worked as a bookseller and writer in Concord, Massachusetts.

Critical reception

The String in the Harp was named a Newbery Honor Book, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book in 1977. It received the International Reading Association Award and the Welsh Arts Council’s Tir na n’og for the best English-language children’s book about Wales. Called it "a most impressive first novel, Bond deftly blends fantasy and realism…", the University of Chicago Guide to Children's Literature also praised the character's growing maturity throughout the story. Her second book, The Voyage Begun, won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. A Place to Come Back To was named an ALA Best Books for Young Adults, and the Booklist Editor's Choice.

Selected works

• A String in the Harp, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1976,
• The Best of Enemies, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1978,
• Country of Broken Stone, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1980,
• The Voyage Begun, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1981,
• A Place to Come Back To, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1984,
• Another Shore, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1988,
• Truth To Tell, McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1994,
• The Love of Friends, McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1997.

External links

• Nancy Bond papers
• Interview
• Autobiographical letter to her niece, Molly. [1]