“Diana Wynne Jones’ wrote Howl’s Moving Castle back in 1986. Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki made a well-regarded animated version of the story in 2004. (Netflix has it.) This book is the sequel published just this year.
Charmain is “volunteered” by her aunt to take care of a wizard’s house while he is away. She is not magical herself, and there’s a lot of humor in reading Charmain’s attitudes to the people she encounters and the work(cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.) she is unaccustomed to doing but has to do now in her new position. In addition, a young man named Peter unexpectedly shows up to apprentice with the wizard. He expects her to do things, not just read all day. He’s not a very good wizard…Charmain finds him annoying, but has to learn how to get along with him anyway, a useful life skill for all of us to work on.
How could a librarian not love a book where the main character loves to read and whose fondest wish is to work in the King’s library? And she does too, (actually she’s really doing some archiving, but let’s not quibble). Our old friends Calcifer the fire demon, Sophie, and Howl himself (but will you recognize him?) appear and play a crucial role in the plot.
The Wizard’s house is quite as interesting architecturally as Howl’s moving Castle – rooms and corridors appear and disappear depending on, well, you’ll see. Imaginative, humorous, with a serious problem to solve and dangers to face – an excellent book!”
DBRLTeen wrote this review Thursday, September 18 2008.
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