House of Many Ways
By Diana Wynne Jones
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 @ Wednesday, May 31, 2023
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What happens when a young bookworm gets caught up in an adventure that she can only imagine happening in one of her books?
Join our story’s hero, 13-year-old Charmain Baker, as she agrees to house-sit for her great-uncle, and quickly learns the house is more than she expected! Will she find any time to read, or will she have to put her favorite books aside to go on her own adventure? Don’t worry, Howl and Sophie (our heroes from the series) are around for this story, too!
(And even if you haven’t read other books in the series, you can join the club and enjoy the story on its own!)
When you join this Book Club, together we’ll read the classic, House of Many Ways—and follow Charmain as she tries to help the king find the Elfgift so she can save the country. 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…
House of Many Ways is a sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle…and we will 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: 0061477974
- ISBN-13: 978-0061477973
(From Amazon) In this sequel to the international bestseller Howl’s Moving Castle, bookish Charmain finds herself smack in the middle of magical court intrigues . . . and dealing with the dashing Wizard Howl.
When Charmain Baker agreed to look after her great-uncle’s house, she thought she was getting blissful, parent-free time to read. She didn’t realize that the house bent space and time, and she did not expect to become responsible for an extremely magical stray dog and a muddled young apprentice wizard.
Now, somehow, she’s been targeted by a terrifying creature called a lubbock, too, and become central to the king’s urgent search for the fabled Elfgift that will save the country. The king is so desperate to find the Elfgift, he’s called in an intimidating sorceress named Sophie to help. And where Sophie is, the great Wizard Howl and fire demon Calcifer won’t be far behind.
How did respectable Charmain end up in such a mess, and how will she get herself out of it?
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 chores/laziness: Charmain begins the story not being able to do anything to take care of herself of a home because she comes from a “respectable” and “sheltered” family, and this doesn’t seem to bother her.
- Language: There is mild cursing. “Damnation” occurs 1 time (Chapter 5) from Charmain, our main character.
- Speech impediment: One of the characters, Twinkle, speaks with a lisp.
- Parasitic relationship: The lubbock’s whole purpose is to sneak up behind and lay eggs inside other creatures without them knowing. This is obviously intended to be disturbing—and it is!
- Magic: This is a fantasy world with mention of black magic, witches, sorceresses, wizards, magical creatures, 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.
- Personal growth: Charmain makes a friend, gets her first dog, and learns how to do house chores.
- Worldbuilding: It should come as no surprise, but the setting is magical and whimsical.
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 5-7
- Week 3: Discussion – Chapters 8-10
- Week 4: Discussion – Chapters 11-13
- Week 5: Discussion – Chapters 14-16
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.
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