1. Lloyd Alexander has said that while his Vesper Holly series is intended to be playful, he was still writing about issues he felt were important. Are there moral lessons you think can be drawn from The Philadelphia Adventure?

2. Helvitius is an archfiend who shows no remorse or regret for his acts.

Likewise, in real life, one reads of people who commit heinous crimes. What is it that turns a person to evil? For example, is one born in some way defective, does one make a choice to be evil, or does one become evil little-by-little?

3. Alexander ends each of his chapters with a "cliff-hanger" that keeps the tempo lively and sustains the readers interest. At the end of Chapter 18, however, he states, "Explosions rocked Machinery Hall," whereas the explosions are the cheers, applause, and shouts of the audience. Has Alexander...