1. Diana Wynne Jones has said that, although she writes fantasy, she sets her characters "in some firmly contemporary situation beset with very real problems, and explore[s] the implications by means of magic and old myths." Do you think this approach can be applied to Howl's Moving Castle?

If so, how?

2. Most fairy tales rely heavily on certain conventions and stereotypes, such as the wicked stepmother, the successful eldest child, the "happily ever after" ending, and so on. How does the author use—or not use—these conventions to help tell her story? Do you think presenting them the way she does makes her work more effective and memorable than it might otherwise have been?

3. Fire and Hemlock is a another fantasy romance for young adult readers which Jones published the year before Howl's Moving Castle. Unlike Howl...