Kiki's Delivery Service

When people think about "Kiki's Delivery Service" they mostly think about the beloved anime movie by Hayao Miyazaki. What people don't realize that the film was based on the book with the same title. It may not be anything close to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter or Sabrina the Teenage Witch from Archie Comics, but it does revolve around magic, adventure, and growing up. Like the film, Kiki has to train away to become a witch on her 13th birthday and while she and her pet cat Jiji are away, Kiki finds work for herself in the city using her ability to fly. You may think this book would be easy to find at a used bookstore or online, but that would be a lie. Thanks to the anime film, it made the book hard obtain in regards of price and value. It can be expensive. You'll ask yourself, "Is it really worth it?" Yes. No matter the price, it is still a fun and enjoyable book to read to children.

This book has, to my knowledge, been out of print for a few years. I originally bought it from Amazon for $15 in 2009/10. The list price on the back is under $7. I don't know why some people think it's okay to charge upwards of $50 for a paperback version of the book the movie is based on.I'd be wary...regardless of who you purchase it from, I'd demand a photo of the actual book, because it seems like some people are listing the book about the animated film that was printed (which is completely different than the one pictured) instead of the original source material Miyazaki used.Anyway, the book itself is a bit different than the Ghibli movie, as are most of the books that Ghibli creates movies from. I love the little chapter illustrations of Kiki and Jiji. It's a very cute children's book, and I plan on taking good care of my copy for a long time. A must-have for those who really love Kiki.

I bought this book having already seen and fallen in love with Miyazaki's take on it. Of course, the book is very different from the movie, but not in a bad way at all! The book is even more of a slice of life sort of story than the movie, in that the stakes are never truly high for Kiki or Jiji. (Spoiler warning ahead...?)You won't find a daring dirigible rescue or a terribly deep relationship with Tombo or Ursula in the book, and her relationship with Jiji is not tested as much as it is in the movie. But you will find several quirky, pleasant and creative new scenarios in which Kiki finds creative ways to solve. I loved the idea of Kiki making "accidental" music while towing a string of orchestral instruments on her broom, and her keeping hundreds of feet of colorful drying laundry aloft. I wish Miyazaki had put some of these stories into his animation, but I understand how they didn't advance the plot much.Basically, this book is a pleasant, breezy sort of read and it great if you want a book you can read in an afternoon, or if you want to see more of Kiki. I only wish it had been a little longer!

I thought this would be a bigger book than just a book with images from the movie. It had a different cover from the other book--I bought both, so I thought it would be different. But they were the same movie book. Although I loved the movie, I wanted to read the story, the book behind the movie and this wasn't what I wanted. So I returned it.

Kiki is turning 13 and it is time for her to leave home and find her own way in the big, wide world for a year. Off she goes with her broom, her black cat and some food to find a new city, a city she can call her own. Once she gets to the city, one by the ocean, she has to find food, a place to live and a job that she can do. In the end, having no other skill but that of flight, she starts a delivery service.This story, a Japanese novel turned into a Japanese anime, seems somewhat too short. Don't worry, to my knowledge there is already a total number of four novels, so there should be more on their way to America.