Teen Book Recommendation #16: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
page count: 329
pub date: 1986
genre: fantasy
age group: teen
My Rating: 5 / 5 stars*
Why am I recommending this book?: It’s one of my favorite fantasy novels. Diana Wynne Jones wrote a lot of great fantasy, but this is my favorite of all of her works. The novel tells the story of Sophie, who gets on the bad side of the Witch of the Waste and winds up cursed to be an old woman. Her only hope of breaking the curse is tracking down Howl, a wizard who might be able to help her, if he can look beyond his own selfishness for two seconds.
The book has so many great fantasy elements to it: a moving castle, a fire demon, a difficult wizard, and a great heroine. It’s the kind of book that I find myself coming back to when I need a good book to curl up with on a rainy day.
There is also the bonus that this book was made into an animated movie by the great Miyazaki (you know him as the director of movies like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke). It’s a great film (although it does change things a bit from the book). As with most books that have been made into movies, I suggest reading the book first!
*a note on my rating system: I go by the rates I use on goodreads.com, which are as follows:
1 star = did not like it
2 stars = it was okay
3 stars = liked it
4 stars = really liked it
5 stars = it was amazing
Anything a 3 or above is worth reading, in my opinion. I’ve read a lot of books that I have given 3 stars to, and I don’t regret any of them.
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