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Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster, Jules Feiffer
Phantom Tollbooth
by: (author) (author)
3.00 5
"It seems to me that almost everything is a waste of time," Milo laments. "[T]here's nothing for me to do, nowhere I'd care to go, and hardly anything worth seeing." This bored, bored young protagonist who can't see the point to anything is knocked out of his glum humdrum by the sudden... show more
"It seems to me that almost everything is a waste of time," Milo laments. "[T]here's nothing for me to do, nowhere I'd care to go, and hardly anything worth seeing." This bored, bored young protagonist who can't see the point to anything is knocked out of his glum humdrum by the sudden and curious appearance of a tollbooth in his bedroom. Since Milo has absolutely nothing better to do, he dusts off his toy car, pays the toll, and drives through. What ensues is a journey of mythic proportions, during which Milo encounters countless odd characters who are anything but dull. Norton Juster received (and continues to receive) enormous praise for this original, witty, and oftentimes hilarious novel, first published in 1961. In an introductory "Appreciation" written by Maurice Sendak for the 35th anniversary edition, he states: "The Phantom Tollbooth leaps, soars, and Abounds in right notes all over the place, as any proper masterpiece must." Indeed. As Milo heads toward Dictionopolis he meets with the Whether Man ("for after all it's more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be"), passes through The Doldrums (populated by Lethargarians), and picks up a watchdog named Tock (who has a giant alarm clock for a body). The brilliant satire and double entendre intensifies in the Word Market, where after a brief scuffle with Officer Short Shrift, Milo and Tock set off toward the Mountains of Ignorance to rescue the twin Princesses, Rhyme and Reason. Anyone with an appreciation for language, irony, or Alice in Wonderland-style adventure will adore this book for years on end. (Ages 8 and up) -- Amazon.com
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Format: paperback
ISBN: 9780006707998 (0006707998)
Publisher: Lions
Pages no: 218
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
FatherCraneMadeMeDoIt
FatherCraneMadeMeDoIt rated it
5.0
For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-CycleThis is one of those books that I had been meaning to get around to reading. Multiple people had told me I would like it, but I always got distracted by other books. When I finally started it, I did not want to put it down. I absolutely loved this book...
Reading For The Heck Of It
Reading For The Heck Of It rated it
4.0 Long overdue + Anniversary
"...the most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between..." There were several lines from The Phantom Tollbooth that I could have chosen to start this blog post but this one really stuck with me. It might come as a surprise for you to learn that this was the f...
The better to see you, my dear
The better to see you, my dear rated it
3.5 About lesson books
I ended up liking it. It took two tries, but I did. I actually enjoyed the cleverness of it the first time around too. I just got bored. I think It was because it is didactic. As a child, I used to despise books that used stories only to carry a message or lesson (I hated morality fables with a pass...
Books for my Classroom
Books for my Classroom rated it
2.5 The Phantom Tollbooth
I have chosen The Phantom Tollbooth having never read the book. However, my mom has used the book in her classroom for many years and she always coming home to tell me new ideas she has for the book. The book is about a boy that travels to a fictional land to help release a princess. My mom has ment...
Irresponsible Reader
Irresponsible Reader rated it
4.0 One of the cases where the audiobook can't deliver what the text can.
I needed something to listen to at work a couple of weeks back, and the only thing I could find from the library's collection was the audio version of the children's classic, The Phantom Tollbooth. It's been a few years since I read this with my kids, so I figured it was worth a shot. The story of b...
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