The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster
The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster
When Milo finds an enormous package in his bedroom, he’s delighted to have something to relieve his boredom with school. And when he opens it to find - as the label states - One Genuine Turnpike Tollbooth, he gets right into his pedal car and sets off through the Tollbooth and away on a magical journey!
Milo’s extraordinary voyage takes him into such places as the Land of Expectation, the Doldrums, the Mountains of Ignorance and the Castle in the Air. He meets the weirdest and most unexpected characters (such as Tock, the watchdog, the Gelatinous Giant, and the Threadbare Excuse, who mumbles the same thing over and over again), and, once home, can hardly wait to try out the Tollbooth again. But will it be still there when he gets back from school?
This new edition of Norton Juster’s classic story includes a special Why You’ll Love This Book introduction by award-winning author, Diana Wynne Jones.
Review
Mark Azzopardi
For a child reader, there are books that, on first reading, create an immediate and enduring impression. These books feel deeply personal, and seem to speak directly to the reader. In Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth, first published in 1961, Milo is feeling bored and increasingly detached from the world around him. Returning home from school one afternoon, he finds a parcel waiting in his bedroom. Unwrapping it, Milo discovers a magic tollbooth. Driving through in his toy car, Milo enters a strange world, inhabited by creatures such as the lazy and time-wasting Lethargarians; a watchdog named Tock, with an alarm clock for a body; and the princesses Rhyme and Reason. Milo’s journey and adventures have a lasting impact, allowing the young hero to see the real world in a new way. Comparable to Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, Juster’s book is a delightful and inventive fantasy, full of energy and creative wordplay.
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