Castle in the Air
By Diana Wynne Jones
Wednesday, April 12, 2023 @ Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Recorded Club
Buy a recording of this club to view at any time!
Read below for details…
Price
Sign Up
You’ve heard of a genie in a bottle, and probably a magic carpet. But have you ever heard of a floating castle?
Join Abdullah, a young carpet dealer, as his life is turned upside down when a stranger sells him a magic carpet. Will his daydreams of being a prince’s son come true with the help of this magic carpet? Will he be able to rescue the princesses in the floating castle?
When you join this Book Club, together we’ll read the classic, Castle in the Air—and follow Abdullah as he tries to navigate the dream-like world around him. You and your Literary Guide, Ms. Schuett, will analyze the characters, themes, and conflict within the story—and have so much fun diving into this whimsical world!
What Makes this Club Special…
Castle in the Air is set in the same world as Howl’s Moving Castle and is a companion novel…and we might run into some familiar faces!
Your Guide is a teacher with wonderful experience that helps your child learn to love reading and learning!
Your Guide, Ms. Schuett, is an experienced teacher with a Master of Fine Arts (terminal degree) in storytelling. When you sign up for this Book Club, you get a professional, highly skilled Guide who helps your student develop a love for reading while learning how to dig deeper into all of the different parts of writing and creating a story.
Your Guide
Ms. Anna Schuett is a professional writer and podcaster with Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English degree from Concordia University (with an emphasis in Creative Writing) and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, Genre Fiction (MFA, terminal degree) from Western Colorado University.
While studying for her MFA, Ms. Schuett was an elementary school Para-Educator and Librarian/Technology Assistant. Spending a great amount of time with students who struggled with their studies, Ms. Schuett found a love for helping students learn and grow.
Ms. Schuett works as an I.T. Coordinator for Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy clinics across the state of Nebraska. Because of a love of working with students and books, Ms. Schuett has started a second master’s program to earn her MS in Library Information Science. Born, raised, and living in Nebraska, USA, Ms. Schuett enjoys reading, quilting, baking, and writing epic fantasy novels—all with a cup of coffee or tea within arm’s reach. You can reach Ms. Schuett at akschuett91@gmail.com.
About the Book
- Buy from Bookshop.org
- ISBN-10: 0061478776
- ISBN-13: 978-0061478772
(From Amazon)
In this stunning sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones has again created a large-scale, fast-paced fantasy in which people and things are never quite what they seem.
There are good and bad djinns, a genie in a bottle, wizards, witches, cats, and dogs (but are they cats and dogs?), and a mysterious floating castle filled with kidnapped princesses, as well as two puzzling prophecies. The story speeds along with tantalizing twists and turns until the prophecies are fulfilled, true identities are revealed, and all is resolved in a totally satisfying, breathtaking, surprise-filled ending.
Abdullah was a young and not very prosperous carpet dealer. His father, who had been disappointed in him, had left him only enough money to open a modest booth in the Bazaar. When he was not selling carpets, Abdullah spent his time daydreaming. In his dreams he was not the son of his father, but the long-lost son of a prince. There was also a princess who had been betrothed to him at birth. He was content with his life and his daydreams until, one day, a stranger sold him a magic carpet. All fans of classic fantasy books deserve the pleasure of reading those by Diana Wynne Jones, whose acclaim included the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. As Neil Gaiman stated, she was “quite simply the best writer for children of her generation.”
Age Range: 8 – 14 years old
Parental Guidance
Some of the themes and situations in the story may be challenging for some readers.
- Attitudes toward women’s and men’s roles: Abdullah has a very dated sense of what a woman should be—he doesn’t like Sophie because she’s strong-willed.
- Attitudes toward being overweight: There are a couple of instances where thinness is praised, and being overweight is viewed as bad and lazy.
- Language: There is mild cursing. Variations of “damn” occurs 5 times (Chapters 10, 11, & 21) from soldiers and King Luther.
- Magic: This is a fantasy world with mention of black magic, witches, genies, djinns, and a fire demon. See the description below for more details.
We will discuss these topics with care.
There may also be some challenging vocabulary that we discuss together in the Club; readers are encouraged to bring up vocabulary words for discussion in our time together.
Positive Elements
- Humor: Diana Wynne Jones weaves a good amount of humor through this whimsical world with situational irony and dialogue.
- Overcoming adversity: Abdullah comes from a less-than-stellar home life, but he is determined to make a path for himself in the world. (Think Cinderella meets Aladdin.)
- Loyalty: Abdullah is catapulted into a mission to save his beloved, Flowers-in-the-Night, after she’s been abducted by a djinn.
- Family love/support: (this is a major spoiler, don’t tell your kiddos!) We learn that Howl turned a pregnant Sophie into a cat to protect her from an evil djinn that stole Howl’s castle. Sophie is a ferocious mama cat with her kitten—and equally protective when the spell is broken.
Reading Schedule
As you read through the sections each week, simply follow the prompts as they pop up – and together, we’ll discuss the concepts from the reading and the work we did on the prompts as you become a great writer. If you come to a writing prompt that you really don’t like, feel free to skip it, no worries! We’ll discuss how to write for topics “we’re not excited about” and then come up with ideas right there in class together.
- Week 1: Discussion – Chapters 1-4
- Week 2: Discussion – Chapters 5-8
- Week 3: Discussion – Chapters 9-12
- Week 4: Discussion – Chapters 13-15
- Week 5: Discussion – Chapters 16-18
- Week 6: Discussion – Chapters 19-21
How To Begin
It’s easy! Follow these steps to get started…
- Sign up and get in (before it’s full!) — Use the blue button at the bottom of this page to save your spot.
- Receive your information — Within 48 hours of signing up, you’ll get an email with your Club’s details. Save this email, bookmark the zoom link, and add the club dates to your calendar.
- Prepare for your first meeting — Get the book from your own favorite source, or buy your book(s) directly from your Book Club pages. Read the assigned chapters ahead of time, and download and print the supplies list for crafts (young readers), activity pages for during the Club time (older readers), or the handout to guide the discussion (older students).
For more information, visit the How It Works page.
Recordings