Name: The phantom tollbooth
Rating: 4.207720588235294 (272 reviews)
ISBN: 0816148015

Norton Juster

A journey through a land where Milo learns the importance of words and numbers and finds a cure for his boredom.

The phantom tollbooth

THERE WAS ONCE a boy named Milo who didnt know what to do with himself - not just sometimes, but always.

A journey through a land where Milo learns the importance of words and numbers provides a cure for his boredom.

The Phantom Tollbooth

Greg Talbot

Librarian: “This is not a library book” Me: “Oh, I picked it up from the shelf...you mean someone just left it there” Librarian: “I don’t know” Me: “Oh” Librarian “Do you want it?” Me: “Yeah, I guess” So began my journey with “The Phantom Tollbooth”, like Milo, the main character we follow, I had found life to be a particular dull spot, in my own winter journey of navigating the doldrums and looking for inspiration. Milo of course was dealing with the puzzlement of spending 8 hours of a day doing something totally uninteresting to him. “Since no one bothered to tell him otherwise, he regarded the process of seeking knowledge as the greatest waste of time of all” (p.9). Only pages later, novelist Norton Juster, sends our protagonist our into the Dr. Seuss/Alice in Wonderland adventure of adjusting to a limitless world. More than really any young adult book I have read, the “The Phantom Tollbooth” plays very loosely with plot. It would be safe to slide between chapters, to the comical/bizarre subplot of your choice. Of course there is a hero’s story here too. “Wisdom fell into despair...until the princesses return (p.77). The princesses,Rhyme and Reason, egress to the Castle in the Air. The royal men were too busy bickering to keep any intelligence left in the kingdom apparently. Milo is led through an education through wacky and subtle British humor. Bizarre conversations with a host of characters including a spelling bee, the humbug, and the hilarious chorus of the king’s advisers (“The duke of definition”; “The earl of essence”, “The minister of meaning”, “The court of connotation”, “The undersecretary of understanding”) occur in his travels. Some of the imagery of Milo overcoming his diffidence is incredibly vivid. One memorable passage has Milo finding a connection between nature and his willpower.““Milo frantically conducted, the sky changed slowly from blue to tan and then to a rich magenta red. Flurries of light-green snow began to to fall, and the leaves on the trees and bushes turned a vivid orange” (p.129). Another episode where Milo meets a boy who lives in the air has the stunning line - “you certainly must be very old to have reached the ground already” (p.105). Throughout the book are a number of lessons, but the central theme is that when someone takes hold of their education, or asserts their reality with knowledge, they can light their own path. The adult world has a different kind of magic where imagination is the webbing of relationships, or physics or music and acting. “Phantom Thread” is one of those entry points to the adult world for many readers. It came a little later on my journey but it wears the familiar enchantment of the books that inspired me as a young reader.

Erik Wallace

Very clever and well written. A good read for kids and adults.

Gavin

In one sentence: An invitation to reason by way of reified puns and embodied binaries.

 
    Galef type: 

Values 2 - thought experiments for you to reflect on how you feel about something, &

Style 3 - tickle your aesthetic sense in a way that obliquely makes you a more interesting, generative thinker.

I was obsessed with this book as a kid! It was such a fantastical place to dive into. Must read again.

Aims

Jeannette Ordas

I never read this book as a child and maybe if I had it would have made me all swoony to re-read it again. It wasn't nearly as capturing as I thought it could be, but I can imagine that for kids it would be a fun read.

Megan Snodgrass

Rachel BD

Mary Horton

I can't believe I didn't read this sooner! I have the feeling this would have been a childhood favorite.

It's got that classic, cozy feeling of books from another age, yet it still applies so well to the present. All the whimsical humor and deep truths herald back to another favorite classic of mine, Alice in Wonderland. 

It's a story packed full of great messages. The fun characters, vibrant setting, sharp wit, and charming illustrations make this a classic for a reason. 

What else can I say about this? Oh yes...WHEN CAN I REREAD IT??

5 stars!

Callie Anna

6 Stars! I loved it so much! The punny wordplay was so enjoyable and I loved the descriptions of ideas. Brilliant. Everyone should read this book. Go! Now! Read it and stare at the pictures like a 5 year old!

Mary Rose Luksha

This is one of those terrific books that you can read at 12 or 13 and love, and read it ten years later and love it even more. There were many things I missed when I was younger that I understand and found hilarious and poignant all at the same time. I couldn't classify this as children's literature, it's a classic for all ages.

This beautiful HarperCollins Children's Modern Classics edition is perfect for every bookshelf.

Fraser Simons

I can see why it’s compared to Alice in Wonderland. It’s very witty, funny, and very, very bizarre.

Robin M Cabana

I'm only disappointed that I didn't read this story when I was younger! It is such a celebration of words!

Donald

It's good to reread books like this occasionally.

Ben Burns

I’m a little bit embarrassed to say I didn't enjoy this very much. Obviously I was supposed to read it when I was a kid -- I remember having a copy and never getting around to it then. 

I think the thing that bugs me now at age 32 would have bugged me at age 8, too, but I guess I can never be sure. That thing being: it's a sort of fable glorifying various virtues and elements of the world like words, letters, numbers, curiosity, learning, color, perspective, etc -- cool -- but the glorification of all these things is totally empty, in the name of whimsy and wordplay. Such as: without numbers, if you had high hopes, how would you know how high they were? Or: did you know that narrow escapes come in all different widths? Or: averages are important because if you're a farmer and you get no rain all year, but the average rainfall is 37 inches, then your crops won't die. What? That is just going to confuse kids about what an average is.

So - it's all very imaginative, but there's a way to write a fable with whimsy and wordplay, even absurdism, without subverting the very things you're trying to glorify - see Roald Dahl, or Math Curse. 

Or maybe I'm just a curmudgeon who's lost his imagination!

Melody Izard

A preachy little educational read which made me feel lectured to. Oh yes, I liked some of the quirky characters but maybe he was just getting a little too close for comfort when he introduced the demon who made you do busy work that requires no thinking instead of the important tasks that should be done. I did find it amusing the the interview with the author that was included in this audio book revealed that he wrote this book while avoiding a research paper he was supposed to be tackling. 

I did really like the book - just couldn't love it like so many others seem to.

Tiffanie Dang

THIS BOOK. I loved every moment of it. As a huge English and grammar nerd, I enjoyed how Juster used absurdity to make social commentary on our society at large and all the fun wordplay aspects. I wrote an essay for VCFA on this topic, and it was so much fun! I wish I had read this as a kid, but also wish I didn’t. I’m so glad I read this in my 20’s because everything makes sense and is funnier, instead of it all going over my head like it would if I was still a kid. Definitely recommend this book to everyone; go read it now!

Sam Spott

I probably read this way too late in life, so it didn’t quite grab me. It’s very Alice in Wonderland/Wizard of Oz. But the last page or so was beautiful.

Kerri McDonald

I need to read this book again. I remember being a huge fan as a kid, but I can't seem to remember it at all.

Shantesh Patil

Though this book is most certainly for kids it was something incredibly unique. I can see this being a book I have to get my son to read when he is older. If only math and language could be part of a story learning could have been so much more fun

Ben Nathan

Freakin' de-damned-lightful. I need my nephew/niece to read it so we can talk about it. The word play made me giggle and I can't believe it took me this many years to read it. Give your kids this book!

The phantom tollbooth

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