Castle in the Air

Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins)
Released: 2001 (copyrighted 1990)
Genre: YA Fantasy

Howl's moving castle is back, in an adventure involving many people from far and diverse lands. Abdullah is the son of a carpet merchant who spends all his free time daydreaming. When a stranger sells him a magic carpet that takes him into his daydreams at night, things start getting very complicated. The princess that Abdullah dreamed of is real, and they fall in love - but she is suddenly snatched away by a djinn just as Abdullah is about to take her away to marry her. Abdullah sets out to rescue Flower-in-the-Night, and meets up with many strange characters along the way, who help him get to the Castle where all the princesses that the djinn stole are held.

I love how all the characters in the book are really just big kids, all throwing temper tantrums at one point or another. The total irreverence about all things magical carries over from Howl's Moving Castle, with traditional magic challenged and accepted ideas about magic made fun of - nicely, of course. The whole book is just one big romp of lots of fun. And getting to meet up with Howl and Sophie, Lettie and Suliman again was just great!

This is another of those books that I read again and again. It's fast, it's fun, and it makes me smile!