A Masterpiece
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The Phantom Tollbooth was my favourite book as a child. I read it seven times during my first year at boarding school. I really identified with Milo, the hero, who is a very bored young boy who is disillusioned with life and doesn't see the point of doing anything. Milo takes the reader with him on an adventure where he meets all types of interesting off-beat character. The book has some real laugh outloud moments and is perfect bedtime reading. I can't recommend it enough. I recently came across it again in a second hand bookshop, bought it and took it home to read. As an adult I found the book just as anjoyable. It's a classic.
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This book changed my life
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Milo is a lad of indeterminate age - about 10, I guess - living in an indeterminate age, who is surrounded by the trappings of the materialistic world in which he lives, and he is BORED! Do you know somebody like that? I did - it was me, in the 70s.
By virtue of the mysterious phantom tollbooth and car, Milo (because he has nothing better to do with his time) wanders into a strange world, peopled by quirky characters and odd locations. He first has to escape from the Doldrums, where nothing happens all day, but then he finds himself travelling to Dictionopolis and Digitopolis - cities of words and numbers, in permanent rivalry, pending the return of princesses Rhyme and Reason - accompanied by the Watchdog and the Humbug, and meeting people who show him completely new ways to look at colours, sounds, music, words and almost everything else you can think of.
This book is a fun read, with short, bedtime-reading sized chapters, but it is intelligent, literate and subtle. If you know anybody who finds themselves bored, and surrounded by the trappings of their materialistic world, get them to take a journey with Milo.
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if i could give this 10 stars i would
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When i was nine (15 years ago) my teacher Mrs Smith read us this i remember being utterly enthralled - but i could never remember the book's name then after descibing it to someone i found it and bought it. Loved it just as much now as then - its beautiful written and so so clever. Too me its up there with the Doctor Doolittle books which i loved and im trying to buy again now. Buy this book for your children - you will not be disappointed i promise
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The perfect cure for boredom!
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There's no horse attached to the cart. How does it go? They sit in it, say nothing and it starts moving. Why? Because it goes without saying.
At a banquet all of the guests say delicious things because at this banquet you eat your words.
Maybe you laughed at those jokes, maybe you groaned (you cynic!), but it gives you a flavour of the things in this book. The novel is about a lonely boy called Milo who is bored in life. When he goes home he finds a car and a tollbooth. Getting into the car he goes into another world where he discovers all sorts of things to do and realises the importance of words and numbers. Rhyme and Reason are the names of the two princesses who have been banished from the land (truly, a parable of our times)and it is up to Milo to return them. The story then becomes a quest story (like Dracula or Lord of the Rings) where Milo recruits companions and they travel through the strange lands (my particular favourite was the Mountains of Ignorance for the sinister crow and the faceless man) and it's also a sort of modern day Alice in Wonderland. All to the good!
The pictures that accompany it (by Jules Feiffer, Juster's flatmate in New York who drew as Juster wrote) are perfect in the way that John Tenniel's complemented Carroll's, while the prose is very readable and perfect for young children to read. I read this when I was 6 and recently re-read it at the not so innocent age of 20 and was still impressed.
Bottom line, this is a great book for everyone; for kids, an imaginative story and hopefully an inspiring one; for grown ups, a story that reminds you of the lessons learnt in your youth but also reinvigorates you to continue learning and reading.
Never be bored! is the message Juster wants you to take away from the book and a fine one it is indeed. Let's hope we can all remember it, no matter our age.
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Looking for the Turnpike
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Norton Juster's book is ostensibly a children's book. However, like much of children's literature, it contains hidden (and not so hidden) aspects that are of delight to adults as well. This, when you think of it, makes sense--the point of children's literature is to educate as well as entertain (one hopes!), therefore, it makes sense that some of the lessons will be more 'adult' than the actual storyline would seem to indicate. Milo and his various friends and enemies encountered along the way serve to illustrate many of the foibles and quirks of adult life. The Phantom Tollbooth serves as a gateway to a place that embodies the physical manifestations of metaphors. For instance, in Dictionopolis (a city of words) Milo is invited to a banquet at which one must eat one's words. Just as in our world, sometimes those words can be sour and very hard to swallow. Also, while you can jump to the Isle of Conclusions, you must reach the mainland again only by swimming through the sea of knowledge. And the water is cold. It is not easy to recover from having jumped to conclusions. The interplay between concepts, the tension between words and numbers, the divisions and alliances that are made, the enemies who seem to be friends, all of these serve to make a delightful play which will interest children and adults. Milo, of course, makes it home safely after a fascinating journey, and while he would like to take another trip, the phantom tollbooth is needed elsewhere for other children, too. However, Milo realises that he has his own tollbooth in his imagination, and thus the adventure need never end.
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