You'll never afflict me again, because I have the perfect antidote: Norton Juster's "The Phantom Tollbooth."
A good book engages its readers, and "Tollbooth" does it better than most. For this is a book about coming to your senses. At the end of Juster's wonderful journey, readers and protagonist alike return to reality, ready to relish the everyday wonders of their own world.
Disclaimer: I haven't been a child in a couple of decades, nor do I have children of my own. So I can't comment on this book's suitability, usefulness as a teaching tool, etc. I can only tell you why, as an adult, I still have "Tollbooth" on my shelves.
Mommmmmm! I'm bored!
Poor Milo has nothing to do. Worse, nothing seems worth doing. School is a waste of time, and home isn't any better. Even his room holds no interest; where others would see a treasure trove of games and books, the dejected Milo finds only the same old things, day in and day out.
Then one afternoon, he comes home to discover something new. A package is waiting for him, containing "one (1) genuine turnpike tollbooth to be erected according to directions," "three (3) precautionary signs to be used in a precautionary fashion," a map displaying roads and cities he'd never heard of, and other intriguing items.
Milo, figuring that he might as well investigate, assembles the tollbooth, dusts off his electric car, and soon is traveling the Lands Beyond, embarked on a grand, eye-opening adventure teeming with odd characters and surprising sights. As if that weren't enough to keep him busy, he is also given a quest: rescue a pair of princesses, and by doing so restore rhyme and reason to two quarrelsome kingdoms.
"... there is much worth noticing that often escapes the eye." -- Alec Bings
Thanks to his experiences, Milo learns to observe the world around him, and to think about what he's observing. Each character he meets and each dilemma he overcomes introduces him (and by extension the reader) to concepts worth pondering:
The advisors to the King of Dictionopolis
Quote: "Don't need it ... No use for it ... Superfluous ... Unnecessary ... Uncalled for."
Lesson: There are many ways to say the same thing (which doesn't mean you should use all of them).
Alec Bings, who sees through things
Quote: "For instance, from here that looks like a bucket of water ... but from an ant's point of view it's a vast ocean, from an elephant's just a cool drink, and to a fish, of course, it's home."
Lesson: Everyone has his/her own point of view.
Similarly, Milo encounters people and creatures who demonstrate the wonders of color, the joys of pleasant and not-so-pleasant sounds, the pitfalls of unclear thinking, and the usefulness of words and numbers.
Juster could have taken the didactic route with "Tollbooth." I'm glad he didn't. Though the author, as narrator, does make occasional comments, he usually follows the "don't tell me, show me" rule, letting his characters illustrate ideas through their words and actions. In any case, the members of Juster's cast are individuals first, mouthpieces second. This epinion was written by soxfan. If you're reading this on someone else's page, this review was plagiarized. Sorry to have to put this in.
Well-written words ...
"Tollbooth" is worth reading for the language alone. Juster is a master at description, deftly sketching scenes and characters in the space of a few lines. Tock, for instance, is "a large dog with a perfectly normal head, four feet, and a tail -- and the body of a loudly ticking alarm clock." Milo's other companion, the Humbug, is a "large beetlelike insect dressed in a lavish coat, striped pants, checked vest, spats, and a derby hat," while Chroma the conductor turns out to be "a tall, gaunt man with dark deep-set eyes and a thin mouth placed carelessly between his long pointed nose and his long pointed chin."
As much as I love these characterizations, though, my favorite part of "Tollbooth" remains the wordplay. Juster's prose abounds with puns and figures of speech; even the most tired cliches get a fresh spin, thanks to the tendencies of most characters to take Milo's words literally. When, at a dinner in Dictionopolis, Milo requests a light meal and then a square one, waiters bring platters with, respectively, rays of light and cooked squares. He fares no better in Digitopolis, the kingdom of numbers. Asked to display the biggest number there is (as Tock eventually explains, "the number of greatest possible magnitude"), the Mathemagician instead shows Milo a very tall "3" and a very wide "8."
Smart-alecky? Well, maybe just a little. But it's all in good fun. Though some of Juster's criticisms are blunt (mostly where the demons of Ignorance are concerned), the book overall maintains a droll, light-hearted tone. In other words, expect kindly humor instead of biting wit.
... and perfect pictures
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Jules Feiffer has contributed his own opus to "Tollbooth." His black-and-white illustrations -- what Maurice Sendak, in his foreword to the 35th anniversary edition, calls "his superb scratchy-itchy pen drawings" -- are a visual treat.
Some pictures, such as one of Rhyme and Reason, are lightly sketched, with a minimum of detail. For others, the page blooms with countless lines and curves. Equations and formulas cover every inch of the Mathemagician's robe, and Chroma's orchestra stretches so far toward the horizon, the most distant musicians are reduced to the briefest of scribbles. Whether elegant or exuberant, Feiffer's pictures prove the ideal complement to Juster's words.
Verdict: five out of five
I've chosen "Tollbooth" for this writeoff because I believe everyone, no matter what age, should take at least one trip with Milo and company. By donating a copy to the local library, I hope to give others a ticket to those Lands Beyond ... and, perhaps, a better perspective of the world they come back to. Bon voyage!
This review is part of the "Read, Review, Recycle" writeoff, organized by msiduri. Participants are reading, reviewing and then donating books they think are important enough to be in a public library or other institution. For other must-read books, please check out entries from my fellow book-lovers amykhar, gracef, hypotenuse, msiduri, murasaki, quasar, and wovengold.
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 ...More at HotBookSale
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 ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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