Do not come to this book with Studio Ghibli expectations—while the movie takes inspiration and characters from the book, it has almost a completely different premise and conflict. Nevertheless, my sister (10) and I very much enjoyed it! I related to Sophie as a character even more than in the movie, and Howl is much more complicated and almost unlikeable at times. There's also not an explicit romance between them, which I enjoyed much more. Michael is more of a teenager than a little boy, and Sophie's sisters are developed characters with their own storylines. It's written so satisfyingly and the dialogue is hilarious. The plot and characters are very complicated at times and we got a little lost, but the ending wrapped most of it up. I recommend to 4th graders and up who can follow more complicated storylines and are comfortable with/can handle minor romance/breakup plot-lines.