Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Jones

Young girl turned old lives with a wizard.

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Common Sense rates it
3
Read the book?
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Book details
  • Author:Diana Jones
  • # of pages: 336
  • Publisher:HarperCollins Children's Books
  • Original Publication Date: 06/14/2005
  • Genre: Fiction - Fantasy
  • Hardcover: $16.95
  • Paperback: $6.99
  • Publisher's Recommended Reading Level: 10-14
  • Read Aloud: 9
  • Read Alone: 10

Parents need to know

Parents need to know that there's not much to concern parents here.

Families can talk about what it would be like suddenly to be old, to have a child's mind in an elderly body. There's a lot about adulthood and old age that children don't know or understand, and they may be interested to try to imagine Sophie's predicament.

Message

Social Behavior:

Consumerism:

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:

Howl drinks brandy and gets drunk.

Violence

Sex

Language

Common Sense says

What's the story?

Reviewed by Amy Brotman

Sophie is trapped in her life as the responsible eldest daughter who runs the family hat business and has nothing to look forward to. Everything changes when the evil Witch of the Waste bursts into her shop and, for mysterious reasons, turns her into an old woman. Wandering away from town she finds herself alone in the wilderness at night, and stumbles across the titular castle, owned by a wizard rumored to take the souls of young girls.

Once there she makes a deal with a captive fire demon -- if she breaks the contract between the demon and Howl, the demon will lift the spell on Sophie. There's only one problem -- no one can tell her what the contract is, or how to break it.

Is it any good?

3

Diana Wynne Jones writes the old-fashioned kind of fantasy: fascinating and original, but also slow and meandering. Once Sophie settles in at the castle, it's hard to say what the story is about for the next couple of hundred pages. That's not to say it's boring -- far from it. But, much like the castle that wanders around in the wilderness, it doesn't seem to go much of anywhere, or to have much of a definite purpose.

Eventually there's a nice climactic showdown, though much of it happens offstage, so to speak, a few secrets and surprises are revealed, and it's wrapped up satisfyingly enough. But then, just try to explain what it was all about. Die-hard fantasy lovers adore this and other Wynne Jones books, but those who need action, adventure, or even a clear plotline may find it too murky for their tastes.

From the Book:
Sophie put her hands to her face, wondering what the man had stared at. She felt soft, leathery wrinkles. She looked at her hands. They were wrinkled too, and skinny, with large veins in the back and knuckles like knobs. She pulled her gray skirt against her legs and looked down at skinny, decrepit ankles and feet which had made her shoes all knobbly. They were the legs of someone about ninety, and they seemed to be real.

Other choices

Sequel
Castle in the Air

Other Books by Diana Wynne Jones
Aunt Maria
Cart and Cwidder
Charmed Life
Eight Days of Luke
The Lives of Christopher Chant
The Power of Three
Dark Lord of Derkholm
The Merlin Conspiracy

Movie Version
Howl's Moving Castle

Related Books by Filmmaker Hiyao Miyazake
Howl's Moving Castle Picture Book
Howl's Moving Castle Film Comic
The Art of Howl's Moving Castle

Related Website
Diana Wynne Jones's Site

Parents and kids say

All Reviews

There are 2 reviews.

5


Posted on 01/20/07 by bookbaby Kid contributor, age 10

great book and a must read

sophie hatter is the eldest so she takes care of the hat shop when her father dies. one day the witch of the waste comes and is not pleased so turns sophie into a old lady.sophie ends up in a fantasy so unreal she almost doesnt belive what she got herself into.
5


Posted on 07/17/06 by Random anime geek Kid contributor, age 12

Adult Reviews

There are 0 reviews.

There are no adult reviews.

Kids Reviews

There are 2 reviews.

5


Posted on 01/20/07 by bookbaby Kid contributor, age 10

great book and a must read

sophie hatter is the eldest so she takes care of the hat shop when her father dies. one day the witch of the waste comes and is not pleased so turns sophie into a old lady.sophie ends up in a fantasy so unreal she almost doesnt belive what she got herself into.
5


Posted on 07/17/06 by Random anime geek Kid contributor, age 12
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