The Phantom Tollbooth

It’s always fun to read a children’s book that reminds you of how you used your imagination!  The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster is one of those all-time good ones, though I had not read it, when I asked others about it, they certainly had heard of it (I guess I wasn’t a reader in my youth).  Imagination and “play on words” were the strategy of this author in getting one to learn about how to use double-entendres and English language idioms.  Milo, the lead character of this story, enters a tollbooth and finds a journey similar to Alice in Alice in Wonderland when she enters the looking glass.  This story is not as daunting as Alice’s journey, but as much fun for sure.  When Milo drives through the tollbooth in his room, he finds a dog named Tock (Tick’s brother) and Humbug (yes a bug) and together they try to bring “Rhyme and Reason” to the Kingdom of Wisdom.  Driving through Dictiononopolis and Digitopolis, Milo and his colleagues need to identify which is more important, words or numbers?  The group goes through the Doldrums, a royal banquet where the more you eat the hungrier you get, the “Which” who used to choose words, not the “witch” you and I would think of, an old lady placed in jail.  Each character is usually an opposite of what one would think and challenges Milo and his crew as they try to attain the Castle in the Air that will release the two beautiful princesses who will give Wisdom what it needs most, Rhyme and Reason.  Of course Milo accomplishes his goal and all ends in the way all good fairy tales end.  He wakes up and even with that long journey, it ended up only being an hour nap.  How I wish my dreams were as action packed as Milo’s.  This is a great book to give a nephew or niece.  Have fun with it!