Howl’s Moving Castle

Howl’s Moving Castle

By Diana Wynne Jones

Greenwillow Books, 1986. 212 pages. Fantasy.

ISBN: 9780688062330

Reading/Interest Level: Ages 10+

Curriculum ties: N/A

Booktalk Ideas: Appearances can be deceiving: Introduce and explain Sophie’s character, why she felt she had a hard life, how she felt when she became a hag, and end with her coming to Howl’s house.

Challenge Issues: N/A

Challenge Response: First Defense File

Reader’s Annotation:

When teenage Sophie is cursed and turned into an old woman, she leaves home and starts working as a housekeeper for the feared wizard, Howl. However Howl has many secrets of his own.

Plot Summary:

Sophie Hatter is the oldest of three in a small town. It is common knowledge that the eldest will never find success in life, and Sophie accepts this fortune, but doesn’t realize her true talents. Sophie makes the most beautiful hats and dresses, and she actually talks life into objects without realizing it.

One day, the Witch of the Waste, who has been offended by one of Sophie’s sisters, stops by and, mistaking Sophie for her sister, turns Sophie into an old woman. Sophie doesn’t feel like she can stay home anymore so she leaves the house and comes across the Wizard Howl’s moving castle, where she starts work as a cleaning lady. Howl’s fire-demon recognizes Sophie for the young woman she is and makes a deal with Sophie. If she can break the contract between Howl and Calcifer, he will turn her back to her proper age. The catch is, both Howl and Calcifer are unable to discuss the main portion of the contract with anyone.

As Sophie gets to know Howl, she realizes he’s not the fearsome wizard everyone always thought him to be.

Critical Evaluation:

One of the most fascinating aspects of this novel is the setting and how it changes. Overall the novel takes place in the land of Ingary, but Howl’s house has a door that open into several different locations. When Sophie finds the moving castle, it is wandering the hills near her hometown. Yet that same door when on a different setting also opens into a seaside town called Porthaven, a stable in Kingsbury, and Wales. Howl has a unique identity in each of these different places.

Howl laments that he is a coward and tries to convince people that he is much worse than he actually is. There is a rumor in Sophie’s hometown that the Wizard Howl tries to lure young girls to his castle so that he can snatch them and eat their hearts. Turns out Howl actually spread those rumors himself so that he wouldn’t be disturbed. Howl hates to work, and knows that if people see him as a helpful wizard, they will constantly be knocking on his door and disturbing him. It’s refreshing to have a character that purposefully gives himself a bad name simply because he’s lazy. Yet, as lazy as Howl may be, he truly is kind-hearted evident by his efforts to turn Sophie back into her normal self without her realizing it, or realizing that Howl knows she’s not actually an old woman. Howl also tends to be a bit comical, which makes this such a fun reading. He’s a really unique and entertaining character.

About the Author:

Jones was born in London in 1934 to two educators. Because of WWII, she moved around quite a bit in her early life.

After attending the Friends School Saffron Walden, she studied English at St Anne's College in Oxford, where she attended lectures by both C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien before graduating in 1956. In the same year she married John Burrow, a scholar of medieval literature, with whom she had three sons, Richard, Michael and Colin.

Due to her writing accomplishments, The British Fantasy Society recognized her significant impact on fantasy with its occasional Karl Edward Wagner Award in 1999. She received an honorary D.Litt from the University of Bristol in July 2006 and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2007.

Jones was diagnosed with lung cancer in the early summer of 2009. She underwent surgery in July and reported to friends that the procedure had been successful. However, in June 2010 she announced that she would be discontinuing chemotherapy because it only made her feel ill. In mid-2010 she was halfway through a new book with plans for another to follow. She died on 26 March 2011 from the disease. She was survived by her husband, three sons, and five grandchildren.

-from Wikipedia.com author page-

Justification of Selection:

This is a very popular YA fantasy novel that readers of various ages appreciate. The content is clean, making it suitable for even younger audiences. Though it hasn’t won any major awards, it has received many nominations.