“Howl’s Moving Castle”, by Diana Wynne Jones

Jones, Diana Wynne. Howl’s Moving Castle. New York: Greenwillow, 1986. Print.

I picked this up on a whim, in the “new to our library” section of our children’s department.  The name was familiar, and I knew it had been made into a movie recently, so thought it might be good for family movie night.

She had me chucking on the first page, poking gentle fun at the fairy tales where it’s always the third son who succeeds in getting half the kingdom and the princess’s hand in marriage, after the first two sons have failed.  I ended up speeding through the book in a little over a day, and it was perfect summer reading for a blistering hot hour in the park, up to my ankles in the wading pool.  The action moves along merrily, there’s plenty of excitement, and enough twists in the plot to keep me interested.  Highly recommended.