Tuesday's Book Talk: Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster

   This week's review is on a chapter book, Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster. It is the 50th anniversary of the book. Milo, the main character, receives a mysterious gift. It is a phantom tollbooth. He wonders who sent him this strange but intriguing gift. The directions say to put the tollbooth together, get a coin and pay the toll and then proceed. Milo does just that and ends up in a new and unusual land and experiences a number of great adventures on his journey. He meets several endearing and fascinating characters such as: Tock, the Watchdog (who literally is a watch dog), Humbug (a bug character) and Alec (the boy who hangs from the air) who join him on his quest. In addition, he meets several strange characters such as: Faintly Macabre (a which not a witch!), King Azaz the Unabridged of Dictionopolis, King Mathemagician of Digitopolis, Chroma (head of the color orchestra), Dr. Dischord and Dynne and many many more.

  Basically, these characters all represent different aspects that are important in everyday human life, that the book leads us to believe that we all take for granted. Such aspects include: sound, colors, words, numbers and other more abstract concepts. While Milo is off to learn about all this on his journey with his new friends, Tock and Humbug, they must also complete a mission, to find the Princesses Rhyme and Reason, because of course, nothing makes sense without Rhyme or Reason.

  I would recommend this book for children ages 9-12 and believe it would be a terrific choice to read in a classroom. I could imagine all sorts of discussions that could be inspired about this book.

 In this edition, there is an interesting introduction by Maurice Sendak. He mentions that this book is likened to Alice in Wonderland, but I also see comparisions to the Wizard of Oz and even a little of A Wrinkle in Time.

 I will end this review by mentioning my surprise that there has not been a movie made of The Phantom Tollbooth. The 50th anniversary would have been a good time.