Castle in the Air Symbolism

Yay I read up to page 235 and the book is really great! Many different things happened but I do not really want to spoil it for the other people because I want them to read it:) ♥♥ There are really no symbolism in this book so, I decided that I will make one myself.☺
In my previous blog, I said that Abdullah bought this magic carpet. The magic carpet is all raggedy and smelly but it can fly to any location and all you have to do is just say where you want to go! I also said that Abdullah fell in love with the beautiful girl named Flower-in-the-night. I think that the magic carpet symbolizes love because without the magic carpet, Abdullah would have never found his way to the girl of his dreams, Flower-in-the-night. Also, even if Abdullah did meet Flower-in-the-night (which is kind of impossible), then he wouldn't have been able to meet her without flying to her garden. Without the magic carpet, there would have been no love. Without the magic carpet, there is really no point in this book and this book is really all romance. That is why I believe that the magic carpet symbolizes love.


Well, that is my symbolism post! You guys should really read this book it is really awesome! Have fun reading your independent reading books guys!
-Love Stephanie♥♥<-----<3

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

As I said before in the previous blog, I finished reading the wonderful book Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. There is a sequel to this book called Castle in the Air and it is obviously written by Diana Wynne Jones also! I wanted to read this book because Howl's Moving Castle was such a good book and when I found out that there was a sequel to this book I was so excited and I knew I just had to read this book. I really wanted to know what happened to Howl, Sophie, Calcifer, Michael, and everyone else in the book, and I knew that the sequel would be just as fun as Howl's Moving Castle because Diana Wynne Jones is such a good writer. I started reading Castle in the Air! I read the first 100 pages and I was very confused and upset that Howl and Sophie isn't coming out in the story. The book even says "sequel to Howl's Moving Castle", but there is no sign of the original characters! This is very sad, but even though Howl and Sophie are not coming out, I will keep on reading this book because I think it is okay.
What happened so far is that there is this carpet merchant named Abdullah, and he is just an average person living in Zanzib who always loved to daydream. He always daydreamed that he was in beautiful garden and there was a lovely girl there. One day, this man came up to him and he said that he would sell him a very dirty, ugly, and raggedy carpet to Abdullah. Abdullah did not want to buy it because it was so disgusting, but then the man said that it was a magic carpet, and he said that he wanted 500 gold pieces. After much haggling, Abdullah finally bought it. The carpet really was a magic carpet because the carpet would go anywhere that the rider wanted to go. The rider had to simply state where he/she wanted to go and then the carpet would zip away!!!! But the thing was that whenever Abdullah said the place where he wanted to go, the carpet wouldn't move and Abdullah was very mad. When he got home, Abdullah slept on the magic carpet and when he woke up, he found himself in the beautiful garden that he always daydreamed of. Then, he saw the beautiful girl. The girl and Abdullah talked a lot with each other. He found out that her name was Flower-in-the-night (I find it very odd but he thinks that it is such a beautiful name o_O), and they fell in love. Actually, Flower-in-the-night never met a man besides her father so she thought that Abdullah was a girl, but later on Abdullah brought pictures of many different kinds of men and Flower-in-the-night said that she still liked Abdullah the best. (How romantic!!) Abdullah thought that it was a dream, but it wasn't and he really wanted to go back to the garden in which Flower-in-the-night was in. Abdullah always slept on his magic carpet and he always seemed to wake up in the same garden. One day, Abdullah and Flower-in-the-night decided to get married, but then Flower-in-the-night's father wanted her to marry a prince, so they had to run away to get married. Abdullah came to the garden again and then Flower-in-the-night was about to hug Abdullah but suddenly, a monsterous creature came swooping down and kidnapped Abdullah before his very eyes! This is all I really read so far. Pretty interesting if you ask me. Still, it would have been better if Howl and Sophie came out because I just love that couple!~

I am Finished!!

I am now done reading Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones!!
It is currently my favorite book right now because I just completely fell in love with it!!
The book was really different from the movie. Even though they were very different, I think that they were very enjoyable in their own ways. I think that the book was a lot more detailed though... Hayao Miyazaki took out a lot of scenes that I thought was very romantic.... :(
Still, I recommend everyone to read the book and watch the movie!!!~ While I was reading the book, I was beginning to worry that Howl was never going to fall in love with Sophie, but in the end, Howl proposed to Sophie in such a romantic way that I thought that I was going to cry!!!!!

"Howl said, 'I think we ought to live happily ever after,' and she thought he meant it. Sophie knew that living happily ever after wih Howl would be a good deal more eventful than any story made it sound, though she was determined to try."-pg 328

I thought that it was so romantic and it makes me feel so jealous of Sophie... :( In the end, Howl killed the Witch of the Waste and Sophie put an end to Calcifer and Howl's contract. Calcifer was free, but then he decided that he just wanted to stay because he made such close bonds with everyone. Howl and Sophie fell in love with each other, Sophie's curse was lifted and she became young again. Wizard Suliman and Lettie fell in love with each other too, and I thought that it was very romantic. The ending was very happy indeed, and it makes me want to read more!! There is a sequel to the book and it is called Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones. I can't wait to read it!!!

Howl's Moving Castle!

I've been reading Howl's Moving Castle and I read up to page 141. The book is about a girl named Sophie. Sophie is very strong-minded. Sophie is the eldest of three sisters, and that means that she will have the most unadventurous life. Because she was the eldest, she had to stay in her father's hat shop while her sisters went to week their fortunes. One day the Witch of the Waste cast a spell on Sophie because she was not pleased with the hats. Sophie was cursed and became an old lady. Sophie left the hat shop to find her own fortune. Then she finds her way to the ever moving castle of Wizard Howl. Sophie works for Howl as a cleaning lady so that she could stay in th castle.


Calcifer is a blue fire demon and he has a contract with the lecherous Wizard Howl. Because of the contract, Calcifer must always work for Wizard Howl. Calcifer is usually grumpy because he wants to break the contract and be free. Sophie likes to bully Calcifer into doing things.

Michael is Wizard Howl's apprentice and he is only a teenager. He is in love with Martha , Sophie's youngest sister, and Martha works in Cesari's pastry in Kingsbury.

Howl is a very handsome and powerful wizard. He does not have a heart. Howl always spends all his money as soon as he gets it. Howl is a player as well. He is always going out to court ladies. He is also very obsessed with looking beautiful/handsome.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

I decided that I will be reading Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones for my independent reading project. I chose to read this book because I saw the movie and it was great! It is my second favorite movie. Also, my friends told me that it was very different from the movie so I want to read it. I want to see how different the movie and the book is. I think it will be a good read because I am a fantasy lover and I read some other books from Diana Wynne Jones and she is in my top 5 favorite authors. Diana Wynne Jones lives in London, England. She is one of Britain's top fantasy and science-fiction writers. She wrote over 30 books for children and adults, and won awards for them all around the world. She was born on August 16,1934. She is an outstanding writer and I respect her greatly. If I read 100 pages of this book every week, it will take me 4 weeks to finish it. I can't wait to read this book!♥♥