Rating: 
Summary: A classic
Review: Exciting, funny, and poignant in turn, this book is consistently charming - and there's never a dull moment.
Sophie Hatter lives in the town of Market Chipping. She is the eldest of three daughters, and feels that this circumstance is certain to result in a boring life for her. How wrong she was! A curse is placed on Sophie by the Witch of the Waste, changing her from an eighteen year old girl to an old lady. Feeling that she has nothing to lose now, Sophie slips away from her hat shop and heads off to seek her fortune. Outside Market Chipping, she encounters a dog, a scarecrow . . . and Howl's castle. Howl is a mysterious wizard whose castle drifts about the hills outside the town. He is much feared by the peeople of Market Chipping, not least because he is said to devour the hearts of young girls. Sophie enters the castle and meets Howl's fire demon, Calcifer. Calcifer recognises that Sophie is under a curse, and offers to lift it from her if she finds a way to break his contract with Howl. Sophie agrees, and stays in the castle as Howl's cleaning lady so she can hunt for the information she needs. Then Sophie meets Howl . . . and gets drawn deeper and deeper into the lives of Howl, Calcifer, and Michael, Howl's apprentice. Howl, too, is under a curse from the Witch of the Waste. Can he avoid the curse? And what will happen to him and the kingdom of Ingary if the Witch cannot be defeated?
The characters in Howl's Moving Castle are wonderful. Howl is vain and cowardly, a slob and a "slitherer-outer" - but as the book continues, we learn that he is far from being the evil wizard he would like everyone to believe he is. Much of the poignancy of the story comes from learning just why Howl is the way he is. Sophie is brave, determined, and kind, but capable of being very fierce. She is far from stupid, but she is rather naive at times. Her realisation of the freedom that being an old lady offers her is delightful. The lesser characters are all distinctive, and very enjoyable, particularly Calcifer.
I found the setting very well done, with enough detail to allow you to imagine it all satisfactorily, but never getting bogged down in description. The plot is a lot of fun, though it may be too subtle in some parts for younger readers to appreciate fully. It is highly imaginative, and moves along at a good pace. It is far from predictable, too; but by the end, everything is resolved satisfactorily. The problems of Sophie and her sisters, Howl, Calcifer, the dog, the scarecrow, and the kingdom, are all solved, and I felt really happy for the characters that they were.
If this book is not already considered a classic, it deserves to be - and it's just as much fun for adults as it is for children.
Rating:
Summary: Zee Animated Castle Belonging to Howl
Review: This book, in a word, is fun. It's charming, funny, and has great characters. If you want a book that's really fast-paced and full of action,though,don't pick this one. It's not a story about magic with big, impressive magical battles and that type of stuff, it's a story about people that happen to use magic. This, I think, is one of my favorite things about it. Instead of focusing on how much power the characters have and how much different they are from everyone else, DWJ focuses on how human the characters are. They do the same things everyone does and they aren't perfect. I think it's the only fantasy I've ever read in which the title characer complains about his hair color and gets a hangover. But hey, it makes him seem more human and that's a good thing.If you like to laugh and you want a fantasy that isn't dark and heavy, but that doesn't seem like it was written for 7 year olds, then read this. You will find it quite enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: Hidden Mysteries
Review: A review by Chris Sophie's dad was not able to support all the kids in his family so he found some people to take Sophie's sisters. They keep Sophie because she was the oldest and when they die they needed to have some one to take over the hat shop. One day the witch of the waste came and put a spell on Sophie and the only person the could take the spell off is Howl. She goes to Howl and she stays. They go through many hardships. She finds it hard to leave the castle. I only gave this book 2 Stars because the author tells the story in way too many words. I think that the story could have been told in 100 words or less. The plot of the story didn't go anywhere. The story just went on and on. If you took out all but the last 3 chapters you would get most of the story. The story doesn't progress rapidly toward the climax. The author tell way more details that I think was needed. The conflict do not seem realistic because you can not have a witch come into the store and have her turn you old. The ending of the story has a fairy tail ending because everyone is happy and the bad guys are dead, which is disappointing, I think, in a horror story. I don't recommend this book to anyone because it just goes on and on about everything. If you like reading books the describe every single detail about everything then I recommend this book to you, but If you don't then this book is just a waste of time.
Rating: 
Summary: Fine Fantasy
Review: Possibly reissued to capitalize on the Harry Potter frenzy, this story will certainly appeal to many of his fans. Sophie is doomed to learning the family hatter trade while her two younger sisters go off to have adventures. Sophie is afraid to even visit them as a strange castle which moves through the air has appeared in the kingdom. Supposedly the owner, Wizard Howl, likes to suck out the souls of young girls. Then one day a wicked witch turns Sophie into an old woman and she ends up taking refuge in Howl's castle. The characters are delightful, especially the fire demon who lives in Howl's fireplace. The different puzzles the plot presents - like who exactly is Howl and why is the fire demon bound to him and why was Sophie enchanted - keep the reader turning pages. Humorous situations constantly arise which would make this a good read-aloud for upper elementary students, also. The magic doesn't feel contrived as a tactic for moving the story along. It seems perfectly reasonable for a pair of seven league boots or an invisibility cloak to appear when needed. The ending may require a second reading as things moved along rather quickly at that point as the pieces of the puzzle came together. The book was designated by the American Library Association as a "Best of the Best in Young Adult Literature, 1966-1992." The primary audience would be middle school/junior high, although high schoolers and adults will also find it a quick, entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: adorable, clever, and romantic
Review: Hands down this is one of my favourite books. The first time I read it was two years ago, most of it while sitting in my high-school library laughing out loud and disturbing the peace. It's just so hilarious and completely absorbing. I fell in love with Howl. I re-read it just now, and I've decided Howl is the epitomy of what I want a guy to be like. I'm quite enthralled with his and Sophie's relationship. There are so many precious moments in the novel, namely the green slime, Howl cathing a cold, and the scarecrow. It's so imaginative and original, yet familiar. You can picture everything, and yet it's not at all over-descriptive. It even has a clever little allusion to a Hamlet. I rarely re-read books unless they're very special to me, as is this one. And I discovered a lot of little things I missed the first time around. In fact, you don't even need to like fantasy to like this book. I think it has a little something for everyone in it. And it has one of the most beautiful, non-cheesy, non-cliched romances I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone should read this magnifcent book!
Review: When I first picked up Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones was already one of my favorite authors. I had torn through her Chrestomanci and Dalemark books, as well as Dogsbody and The Dark Lord of Derkholm. However, I just couldn't begin this book. I tried harder to start it. Then I realized how absolutely incredible it is! The characters in the story are very realistic and have great personalities. Howl is arrogant and conceited, Michael is quiet, and Calcifer is ... Calcifer. The story jumps to different dimensions, like the worlds of Chrestomanci (it doesn't take place there, though.) Howl's Moving Castle is now my #1 favorite book, and if I had to name the worst part of it, I would say it was when it ended. I reccommend this book to all fans of the fantasy genre.
Rating:
Summary: Fun! Hilarious! Cool!!
Review: For those of you that are interest in Harry Potter or Narnia or any young reader fantasy books, "Howl's Moving Castle" by Diana Wynne Jones is something you don't want to miss. What can we say about Howl's Moving Castle? Well, its got action, where many battles between Howl the wizard and the Witch of the Waste. Its got humour, consider a fire demon is afraid of the old lady Sophie. It is cool, great characters and surprising events you won't expect. This is one of the book I was reading during the disaster of September 11, and the book really cheered me up. Believe me, if you live 6 blocks away from the World Trade Center and can't get back to your apartment for 14 days, you wouldn't like to get any more depress than that. A surprising news is that an Animation Studio in Japan called "Studio Ghibli" (the same studio that made Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service), they have got the right from Diana W. Jones to make an animated motion picture adoption of the novel. Something there to get you reading!
Rating:
Summary: This book was excellent!
Review: There was only one thing about this book that I thought could improve. It took a little while until the story got tremendously suspenseful. Bul it was never the slightes bit boring. I highly disagree about the age group of this book. This book is the kind of book that can be highly interesting to both kids and adults. I would recomend this book to everyone. Diana's books are so much better than "Harry Potter". This was probbably the most suspensful book I'v ever read! I hope she makes another sequel besides "Castle in the air". (that book was even better!)
Rating:
Summary: Greatness!
Review: Once again Diana manages to write a captivating and suspensful novel. Throughout the duration of the story,I found myself hoping for sophie to be restored to her normal self. Diana is rather wicked, though, in the way she ends her novels. I always want to know what happens to the beautifully developed characters next, like for example in charmed life what happens to cat or Gwendolen?
Rating:
Summary: Wizards, Witches, and Fire Demons
Review: 'Howl's Moving Castle' by: Diana Wynne Jones Would you like to read a book with wizards, witches, spells, and fire demons? Well 'Howl's Moving Castle' is about all these things. Sophie a young girl gets turned into an old lady by the Witch of the Waste. The Witch of the Waste is an evil witch, which causes a lot of fear. Sophie lives in town called Market Chipping, she thinks that as being the eldest of three sisters she is going to turn out to be a failure in life. So as an old lady she goes to Howl's Castle in seek of adventure. Howl is known to be a wizard that eats young girl's souls. Sophie tries to stay in Howl's Castle by being the cleaning lady.
While in the castle she meets a fire demon, and the wizard that sends fear into young girls Howl.
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