DWJ: The Howl Books

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This is yesterday's post, published today!  I've been working on a big event at Sandbox to Socrates, our classical education group blog.  All this week we are publishing a ton of stuff about science (go check it out!  I put a lot of work into that!).  I spent most of the weekend getting everything prepared for it, and I think my brain started to trickle out my ears by the end, so I haven't been able to do as much DWJ obsessing as I wanted.  So: on to the Howl books.

Wizard Howl, easily the most popular DWJ character ever.  Vain, charming, cowardly, an incurable slitherer-outer, and a pretty lovable guy anyway, he does show up when needed.  DWJ always said that there were legions of young women wanting to marry him, which she could not understand and neither can I, but he sure is a lot of fun to read about.

Howl's Moving Castle is the most famous of the three, and was made into a movie, but the other two are really great too.  Howl is in them, but each time he's in disguise and the focus is really on other people.  In Castle in the Air, Abdullah (a humble carpet-seller) discovers to his horror that his daydreams are coming true at him.  Now he has to rescue his true love, Flower-in-the-Night, who isn't anything like he dreamed of--she's way better.  Then there is House of Many Ways, which I really love because Charmaine is so oblivious and so awesome once she gets going.  Her dream is to be the king's librarian, but that turns out to be a much different prospect too.




Guess what--Calcifer's saucepan song is a real song!  I love that.  Here you go:

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 10, 2014 at 6:04 PM

    Ha! Legions of young women are insane, and I say that as someone who is very fond of Wizard Howl and rereads Howl's Moving Castle all the time. He'd be dreadful to marry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JeanMarch 10, 2014 at 8:20 PM

    I do so agree!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kristen M.March 10, 2014 at 8:22 PM

    I think it's interesting that DWJ envisaged Howl (and Sophie) in so many drastically different scenarios. The Chrestomanci books all kind of end up having the same issues and solutions but these are barely connected.

    And no, I wouldn't marry Howl either. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nancy LeekMarch 10, 2014 at 9:12 PM

    What a cute little song!

    ReplyDelete

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