Norton Juster (1929–2021)

There once was a boy named Milo who didn't know what to do with himself—not just sometimes, but always.

When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going. Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he'd bothered. Nothing really interested him—least of all the things that should have.

With the aid of a magical tollbooth, Milo travels show more through the Lands Beyond. He picks up a couple of travel companions along the way, and together they set out to rescue the princesses Rhyme and Reason from the Castle in the Air. By the end of his quest, Milo has learned so many ways to fill his time and use it wisely that he should never run out of interesting things to do. The allegorical story isn't quite subtle enough for my taste, and possibly wouldn't have been even if I had read it as a child. I find that messages stick with me better if I have to work just a bit harder to see them.

If my great-grandfather had lived long enough, this is a book he might have bought for his great-grandchildren. My mother frequently quoted his advice to her: “Wherever you are, be all there.” I think he would have given the same advice to Milo. show less

I tried to read The Phantom Tollbooth when I was a kid. I vaguely remember it. My Mom had a sort of rule (guideline) that she suggested which was to read the first 50 pages of any book, and if you're not hooked, put it down and move on. Normally, I was hooked well within 50 pages. With this one, I don't know, something about it just didn't click with my young brain. (I'm guessing I was in the 10 or younger crowd at the time and more interested in my Hardy Boys mysteries than talking dogs.) I show more barely made my 50 pages (I may have fudged it a bit) and quickly moved on.

Fast forward to not too long ago, being (many) years after my first attempt, when I saw it on a list of books all kids should read. The image of the cover prodded something in my memory that brought back my failed earlier attempt. Maybe it was the article that inspired me or maybe it's the general distaste I have for leaving a book unfinished. Whichever whim goaded me, I picked up a copy and sat down to read.

And found it to be one of the most wonderful books I've picked up in recent history. Puns aplenty (which I love) and wickedly clever word usage, combined with a morality tale of adolescent curiosity and adventure, helped settle this book into a newly discovered special place in my heart. I will be re-reading this for years to come. Thank God I bought the nice 50 year anniversary hardback copy. It will certainly stand up to some wear over time. show less

A boy named Milo, who's rather directionless, arrives home from school one day to find a mysterious package - a tollbooth, and a car, that when he begins to travel bring him to a whole other land where he meets a dog named Tock and a Humbug who travel along with him through the Kingdom of Wisdom, with lands such as Dictionopolis (where words are sold at market), Digitopolis (ruled by the Mathemagician), and more on his way to rescue the Princesses Rhyme and Reason.

Filled with puns galore, show more this was a childhood favorite of mine that I read a couple of times and have since recommended to many over the years. I'd forgotten how didactic it was, but as I'm someone who enjoys words and learning, even as a kid it made perfect sense to me in its madcap way, and I felt incredibly smart whenever I could figure out the (now supremely obvious) point the author was making. The illustrations are lively pencil drawings that match the narrative perfectly. Not a perfect story and not for every kid, but still a classic worth rereading. show less

A dazzlingly clever children's fantasy that has, since I first read it at the age of ten, been one of my very favorite books, The Phantom Tollbooth appeals both to my heart, with its story of an apathetic young boy who learns to care, and to my head, with its plentiful wordplay and prickly-penned insight into the human condition. It follows the adventures of Milo, a disinterested and fairly oblivious young boy, who comes home one day to find a mysterious brown-paper-wrapped package in his show more room, with a "toy" tollbooth inside. Since he has nothing better to do, Milo sets up the tollbooth, drives through it in his toy car, and (surprise!) finds himself in the Lands Beyond.

Here, in the Kingdom of Wisdom, he gains two boon companions, in the form of Tock, the ticking watchdog of time, and the Humbug, perpetually and optimistically wrong about almost everything; stumbles across one extraordinary place after another - the Doldrums, reached by turning the (suspiciously) wrong way, and populated by listless Lethargarians; the Island of Conclusions, to which one jumps when thinking something without good reason, and from which one must swim - and finds himself (naturally) dispatched on an epic quest. For the kingdom, torn between the opposing forces of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis, is very much in need of its missing princesses, Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason, banished to a Castle in the Air...

A book that can be read on so many different levels - as a straight adventure story, involving a quest to find the lost princesses; as an allegory about the pleasures of learning and the importance of knowledge and wisdom; as an extended and playful look at the ever-shifting nature of words, and how we use them - The Phantom Tollbooth pairs Norton Juster's clever wordsmithing and cartoonist Jules Feiffer's brilliant illustrations to wonderful effect. One falls into the story, much as Milo does, and is alternately befuddled and amused, as every assumption is challenged and every expectation exceeded. High points for me, in the story: the tasty letters in the marketplace of Dictionopolis, with the icy and refreshing Is, and crisp, crunchy Cs (I have always wanted to try an A!); Milo's attempt to conduct Chroma's color orchestra, and the lost week that so few people even know occurred (I have always wanted to try my hand at conducting the dawn!); the Island of Conclusions (now here is a place I have been many times!); that sinisterly blank demon, the Terrible Trivium (I rather suspect that I have a weakness for his sort of distraction); and Milo's fabulously satisfactory discussion with Rhyme and Reason, about how important it is, not just to learn things, but to learn what to do with what one learns (there's a lesson for us all!).

I can't honestly say that this is "a book for everyone," as a I rather suspect that it has to come along at the right time. At that moment when the reader is wondering what the point of it all - whether "all" means one's studies, one's work, or something else altogether - might be. For those lucky enough to encounter this book, at that moment, a lasting enchantment is cast. This book is magic! But like all magic, it doesn't work for everyone. I'm just profoundly grateful it works for me... show less