Product Description

Illustrated in black-and-white. This ingenious fantasy centers around Milo, a bored ten-year-old who comes home to find a large toy tollbooth sitting in his room. Joining forces with a watchdog named Tock, Milo drives through the tollbooth's gates and begins a memorable journey. He meets such characters as the foolish, yet lovable Humbug, the Mathemagician, and the not-so-wicked "Which," Faintly Macabre, who gives Milo the "impossible" mission of returning two princesses to the Kingdom of Wisdom.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2417 in Books
• Published on: 1988-10-12
• Released on: 1988-10-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Amazon.com
"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)

Review
" I read [The Phantom Tollbooth] first when I was 10. I still have the book report I wrote, which began 'This is the best book ever.'"
--Anna Quindlen, The New York Times


"A classic... Humorous, full of warmth and real invention."
--The New Yorker

Review
" I read [The Phantom Tollbooth] first when I was 10. I still have the book report I wrote, which began 'This is the best book ever.'"
--Anna Quindlen, The New York Times


"A classic... Humorous, full of warmth and real invention."
--The New Yorker


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews

An Overlooked Classic
This is one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. I never heard of it growing up, and my parents were diligent in providing us with the classics. Even today most of the customers in my bookstore don't know it exists. This is a crime, because it belongs right up there with Alice in Wonderland and The Wind in the Willows. It's a fantasy about a bored little boy who gets into a magic car and goes through the phantom tollbooth into a land of adventure. He must rescue the princesses Rhyme and Reason to restore order to the kingdom. It is chock full of extremely clever puns, because in this world things are really taken literally. You can eat your own words, visit the Island of Conclusions (which can only be reached by jumping to it) and so many more that I won't spoil it by telling you about them. I often found myself laughing out loud. Sure, it's considered a children's book and kids love it, but don't let that put you off if you're an adult. It's timeless, and everyone can enjoy it. A friend who's a librarian recommended it to me, and I'll be forever grateful!

The point is to learn how to think
"Can you help me?"
"Help you! You must help yourself," the dog replied, carefully winding himself with his left hind leg. "I suppose you know why you got stuck."
"I guess I just wasn't thinking," said Milo.
"PRECISELY," shouted the dog as his alarm went off again. "Now you know what you must do."
"I'm afraid I don't," admitted Milo, feeling quite stupid.
"Well," continued the watchdog impatiently, "since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must start thinking."

A fun book! (review by Harry, a 9 year old boy)
A very very good book. In the book, everything is basically literal. For example, the dog, shown on the front cover, named Tock, is a literal "watch dog". A very funny part is where the main characters, Milo and Tock, are in Dictionopolis and they meet the King of Dictionopolis' cabinet. When the Earl (from the Cabinet) said something was "as easy as falling off a log" he actually fell off a log himself. I think that if he had said "easy as pie", a pie would have splatted in his face. Ptbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb!!
I think it's also very funny when all three, Milo, Tock, and the Humbug, who Milo and Tock met in Dictionopolis, "jumped to Conclusions", literally. They landed on the island named Conclusions, which was about a mile offshore. They had to swim all the way back through the Sea of Knowledge. This book made me laugh a lot. I read it more than once and I recommend it for children from Third Grade to High School.