The Phantom Tollbooth: Norton Juster

[silverflight8]

Author: Norton Juster
Illustrator: Jules Feiffer
Length: 256 pages
ISBN: 0-394-81500-9 (trade hardcover)


Every time I read The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster) I feel like jumping up and down.

This is a book of awesomeness, and I'm saying this seriously--it's a narrative story, but it's bursting with puns and good-humored jabs at English idioms. Milo, the protagonist, is a boy who's bored out of his mind, apathetic, and listless. And then one day, he comes home and discovers a strange package in his living room, tears it open, and discovers it's a tollbooth. Deciding that there's nothing to do anyway, he climbs into his car (I think it's like a toy) and drives past--and discovers he's in another world.

I always enjoy myself enormously while reading this book. Milo meets a watchdog (who is a dog with a watch as his midsection), goes to the city of numbers (Digitopolis) and words (Dictionopolis). There are markets for letters (buy a crisp, crunchy 'C' here!) and an island of Conclusions, which is easily jumped to but difficult to swim back from. The princesses of Rhyme and Reason live in a Castle of Air. The whole world is wordplay, and there's no way I could describe it all.

The illustrations are also excellent; they seem a little crude at first, but they carry the meaning of the text remarkably well, giving the impression of movement and energy in a few strokes. Lots of fun to read. I wish I could give a higher score than 10, but score: 10/10.


Crossposted (in a fashion; this is a slightly revised version) to bookish .