This month’s FYA Book Club selection is Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Check out the discussion questions below! (Slight spoilers ahead.)
P.S. If you’ve already read the book, feel free to add any other discussion questions of your own in the comments!
Icebreaker
What is your birth order? Do you feel like being born oldest/youngest/middle/etc. affected your personality? Did it affect your family the way it did Sophie?
Questions
1. Howl: Hottest Wizard Ever or HOTTEST WIZARD EVER?
2. How did you feel about Howl’s vanity and selfishness? Adorable qualities or big turn-offs?
3. This is a fairy tale with very un-fairy-tale elements. Sophie spends most of her time hidden as a crone, but she wasn’t vain and overly beautiful to begin with. The wicked stepmother is really sweet and loves her girls. Sophie’s sisters use magic- not to enchant men but to work in the professions they love. What is Diane Wynne Jones saying about fairy tales and the characters in them? And what parts of the story defy the traditional fairy tale elements?
4. How did you feel about the conclusion of the story? Did everything work out as you hoped it would? Did the happy ending feel earned?
