Based on the Book

Howl's Moving Castle is an animated movie by Hayao Miyazaki, founder of Studio Ghibli which is like the Japanese Disney. The movie is beautiful, as is the book it was based on written by Diana Wynne Jones. We have the book available for checkout at call number YA FIC JON.

In Wynne Jones' fantasy universe there is always odd magic cropping up. When the reluctant milliner Sophie talks to her hats, unfortunately they listen. It is unfortunate, because in unwittingly giving futures to her hats' purchasers, she brings down the wrath of the Witch of the Waste. A quick visit by the witch, a short spell, and seventeen-year-old Sophie is aged sixty years. Undaunted, Sophie hobbles off to seek her fortune as a cleaning woman in the moving castle of the young wizard Howl—and the fun begins. Shortly Sophie has the entire establishment well in hand, even the vain clothes-horse Howl. But finding an end to her spell is another matter. Wynne Jones' castle is a marvelous conceit—four doors open onto four different locations, and the whole is moved by Howl's talking fire demon, Calcifer.

And here's a trailer: