Chosen as a favourite by Philip Pullman: "Superb wit and vigorous invention."
As whimsical as The Wizard of Oz, but with the allegorical wisdom of Alice in Wonderland, The Phantom Tollbooth is a book for adults and children to share. Milo is bored with everything until a mysterious tollbooth appears in his room. He hops into his electric car and goes exploring, finding himself in a strange land. Learning that the Princesses Rhyme and Reason need rescuing he sets off with Tock the watchdog to the Mountains of Ignorance to save them, passing through the Doldrums and the city of Dictionopolis along the way, and meeting some very strange characters. On his return, Milo is a changed boy, and everything seems worth trying. Juster turns abstract ideas into unforgettable images, at the very least children will be slow to jump to Conclusions after reading this! ~ Andrea Reece
When Milo finds an enormous package in his bedroom, he’s delighted to have something to relieve his boredom with school. And when he opens it to find – as the label states – One Genuine Turnpike Tollbooth, he gets right into his pedal car and sets off through the Tollbooth and away on a magical journey!
Milo’s extraordinary voyage takes him into such places as the Land of Expectation, the Doldrums, the Mountains of Ignorance and the Castle in the Air. He meets the weirdest and most unexpected characters (such as Tock, the watchdog, the Gelatinous Giant, and the Threadbare Excuse, who mumbles the same thing over and over again), and, once home, can hardly wait to try out the Tollbooth again. But will it be still there when he gets back from school?
'Think Alice in Wonderland for the modern age. Brilliant'. The Guardian
'The most unpredictable, the most stimulating children's book I have read for a very long time. Words, numbers, cliches, proverbs are taken literally, imaginatively or punningly in an enthralling and very funny dazzle of mental fireworks.' The Sunday Times
'An altogether remarkable book, one that should delight any bright child, and that will be no burden for a parent to read aloud. Related with unflagging wit and a marvellous sense of the fun to be had with words, this book will be enjoyed by children for years to come.' Spectator
Author
About Norton Juster
Norton Juster was born in New York State in 1929, just prior to the Great Depression of 1929. There are still a number of people who attribute that catastrophic event directly to his birth. He grew up (carefully) in Brooklyn, studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, and spent a year in Liverpool on a Fulbright Scholarship, doing graduate work in urban planning and learning to ride a motorcycle. After spending three years in the US Navy, he practised architecture in New York and Massachusetts before teaching architecture and planning. He began writing seriously while in the Navy. His work includes The Dot and the Line, which was made into an animated film, and a musical adaptation of The Phantom Tollbooth. Between the teaching, architecture and writing his life can sometimes get quite hectic. of the three things he does, Mr Juster enjoys most the two he is not doing at any given time. He is married and lives in Massachusetts. He has one daughter and one granddaughter. The Phantom Tollbooth, his most famous book, won the George C. Stone Center for Children's Books Award.
