Diana Wynne Jones is the name that comes to my mind when someone mentions British children’s fantasy. She introduced me as a child to the quirky and fantastical world of young wizards and witches, absent minded enchanters, magical boarding school adventures and self-propelled castles. I cut my contemporary fantasy eyeteeth on her stories. I happily collected all her books, read and re-read them. I was particularly enamored with her Tale of Time City and Howl’s Moving Castle, and those books have gotten quite dog-eared. I was so much a fan of Ms. Jones that by time J. K. Rowling hit the book scene and I finally unbent enough to read my first Harry Potter, my reaction was: so? What’s so great here? Diana Wynne Jones has been writing this stuff for years . . .
I suppose all good things must come to an end. I learned the other day that Ms. Jones had passed away from lung cancer, much to my sadness and dismay. An author who never stopped writing, she was in the process of writing one book with another on the way—the kind of thing as a reader I both celebrate and mourn. Celebrate, because this is the essence of a writer—someone always putting the pen to paper, without any thought of stopping. Mourn, because there were too many things she hadn’t written yet!
If you’ve never read Ms. Jones’ work, she wrote primarily middle grade and young adult fantasy stories. Her stories were varied and highly imaginative, but the core of her works featured young characters, often with some kind of magical abilities and multiple worlds. Her protagonists ranged from a young woman cursed into old age prematurely, to a star transformed into a dog, to an orphaned boy with nine lives, to a girl from WWII caught up in a time travel adventure. Her stories are quirky and imaginative, and sometimes they get a little mind boggling by the conclusion, as the reader tries to sort out all the various twists and turns and characters. She was a woman who spent her life writing what she loved, and sharing it with young readers everywhere. That is, perhaps, the absolute best thing I can say about her.
In tribute to Ms. Jones, I’ve listed a few of my favorite works here—I hope you can find them to enjoy!
Howl’s Moving Castle: This is perhaps the best known of her works, if only because of the Japanese animated movie that was inspired by it. The book is fairly different from the movie, though both are good, and I grew up reading my treasured copy of this book until it fell apart and I had to find a new one. Fairy tales, evil witches, cursed protagonists, self-centered wizards, fire demons, romance, magic and laughter—these things bring me back to this book time and time again. The book has two sequels; Castle in the Air and House of Many Ways. Neither of these is quite as good as the original and the main characters from the first book take a back seat to new protagonists.
Dogsbody: Possibly one of the most unusual of her works—Sirius the Dog Star is framed for a crime and falsely convicted. He is sentenced into the body of a dog on earth and must find the mysterious device that will clear his name and restore him to his former life. The book is about friendship, sacrifice and adventure and is perhaps Jones’ sweetest and saddest story.
A Tale of Time City: I think this is her only more SF based story, where a young girl being evacuated from London because of the blitz is kidnapped and taken to a place called Time City. Mistaken identity, ambitious villains, time travel and a good dose of humor make this a delightful read and a great adventure!
Charmed Life: The first book written in the Chrestomanci series. A young orphan with a magical heritage finds himself and his sister in the hands of the mysterious Chrestomanci. Can he uncover the secrets and deception surrounding his life before it’s too late? This entire series of middle grade fantasy books is a favorite of mine! It’s also the most similar to Harry Potter of her work.
Fire and Hemlock: A young adult tale that takes a spin at the old legend of Tam Lin. When the protagonist discovers that her entire life of memories hides another set of memories that diverge from the normal ones, she sets out to uncover the meaning behind them and why they were erased from her life.
These are just a few of my favorites; I hope you’ll take the time to check out some of her other work!
Happy Reading! ^_^ Shanshad
Biography information:
FanasyBookReview
HarperCollins Publisher
Wikipedia
I suppose all good things must come to an end. I learned the other day that Ms. Jones had passed away from lung cancer, much to my sadness and dismay. An author who never stopped writing, she was in the process of writing one book with another on the way—the kind of thing as a reader I both celebrate and mourn. Celebrate, because this is the essence of a writer—someone always putting the pen to paper, without any thought of stopping. Mourn, because there were too many things she hadn’t written yet!
If you’ve never read Ms. Jones’ work, she wrote primarily middle grade and young adult fantasy stories. Her stories were varied and highly imaginative, but the core of her works featured young characters, often with some kind of magical abilities and multiple worlds. Her protagonists ranged from a young woman cursed into old age prematurely, to a star transformed into a dog, to an orphaned boy with nine lives, to a girl from WWII caught up in a time travel adventure. Her stories are quirky and imaginative, and sometimes they get a little mind boggling by the conclusion, as the reader tries to sort out all the various twists and turns and characters. She was a woman who spent her life writing what she loved, and sharing it with young readers everywhere. That is, perhaps, the absolute best thing I can say about her.
In tribute to Ms. Jones, I’ve listed a few of my favorite works here—I hope you can find them to enjoy!
Howl’s Moving Castle: This is perhaps the best known of her works, if only because of the Japanese animated movie that was inspired by it. The book is fairly different from the movie, though both are good, and I grew up reading my treasured copy of this book until it fell apart and I had to find a new one. Fairy tales, evil witches, cursed protagonists, self-centered wizards, fire demons, romance, magic and laughter—these things bring me back to this book time and time again. The book has two sequels; Castle in the Air and House of Many Ways. Neither of these is quite as good as the original and the main characters from the first book take a back seat to new protagonists.
Dogsbody: Possibly one of the most unusual of her works—Sirius the Dog Star is framed for a crime and falsely convicted. He is sentenced into the body of a dog on earth and must find the mysterious device that will clear his name and restore him to his former life. The book is about friendship, sacrifice and adventure and is perhaps Jones’ sweetest and saddest story.
A Tale of Time City: I think this is her only more SF based story, where a young girl being evacuated from London because of the blitz is kidnapped and taken to a place called Time City. Mistaken identity, ambitious villains, time travel and a good dose of humor make this a delightful read and a great adventure!
Charmed Life: The first book written in the Chrestomanci series. A young orphan with a magical heritage finds himself and his sister in the hands of the mysterious Chrestomanci. Can he uncover the secrets and deception surrounding his life before it’s too late? This entire series of middle grade fantasy books is a favorite of mine! It’s also the most similar to Harry Potter of her work.
Fire and Hemlock: A young adult tale that takes a spin at the old legend of Tam Lin. When the protagonist discovers that her entire life of memories hides another set of memories that diverge from the normal ones, she sets out to uncover the meaning behind them and why they were erased from her life.
These are just a few of my favorites; I hope you’ll take the time to check out some of her other work!
Happy Reading! ^_^ Shanshad
Biography information:
FanasyBookReview
HarperCollins Publisher
Wikipedia
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