Plot Summary
Milo is bored with everything, until one day he discovers a tollbooth in his room and goes through. He finds himself in the middle of a feud between the kings of Dictionopolis (who loves words) and Digitopolis (who loves numbers). He is on a mission to rescue the Princesses Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason from the Castle in the Sky so that order can be restored once more. Along the way, Milo, and his new friends, Tock the Watchdog, and Humbug, meet some very strange characters, like the 1/2 child whose parents have 2.58 children and he is the .58, and the Whether Man who lost his way years ago and hopes someone finds it returns it someday. They also meet the Senses Taker, the Terrible Trivium, the Lethargians, the Awful Din, and numerous others who each teach Milo a valuable lesson.
Personal Reaction
This has always been one of my all-time favorite books. At my first reading I was too young to really appreciate all the play on words. When I read it as an adult, I laughed out loud (that's lol to all you youngsters) through the entire book. If you haven't read this classic, then you should stop what you're doing right now and find a copy.
Memorable Literary Element
"...as friendly as the mailman's ring when you know there's a letter for you." The playfulness of the puns belies the seriousness of the message given to us by the Princess of Pure Reason, "You must never feel badly about making mistakes... as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons."
Illustrations
The illustrations are very comical black and white pencil sketches interspersed throughout the pages of the book. When you come to one, you can't resist spending a moment or two taking in the details.
Milo is bored with everything, until one day he discovers a tollbooth in his room and goes through. He finds himself in the middle of a feud between the kings of Dictionopolis (who loves words) and Digitopolis (who loves numbers). He is on a mission to rescue the Princesses Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason from the Castle in the Sky so that order can be restored once more. Along the way, Milo, and his new friends, Tock the Watchdog, and Humbug, meet some very strange characters, like the 1/2 child whose parents have 2.58 children and he is the .58, and the Whether Man who lost his way years ago and hopes someone finds it returns it someday. They also meet the Senses Taker, the Terrible Trivium, the Lethargians, the Awful Din, and numerous others who each teach Milo a valuable lesson.
Personal Reaction
This has always been one of my all-time favorite books. At my first reading I was too young to really appreciate all the play on words. When I read it as an adult, I laughed out loud (that's lol to all you youngsters) through the entire book. If you haven't read this classic, then you should stop what you're doing right now and find a copy.
Memorable Literary Element
"...as friendly as the mailman's ring when you know there's a letter for you." The playfulness of the puns belies the seriousness of the message given to us by the Princess of Pure Reason, "You must never feel badly about making mistakes... as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons."
Illustrations
The illustrations are very comical black and white pencil sketches interspersed throughout the pages of the book. When you come to one, you can't resist spending a moment or two taking in the details.
Reviews/Awards
Kansas William White Master List WINNER 1963
Scholastic Parent & Child 100 Greatest Books for Kids WINNER 2012
TimeOutNewYorkKids.com 50 Best Books for Kids WINNER 2012
Parents’ Choice Classic Award WINNER 2011
George C. Stone Centre For Children’s Books Award
" I read [The Phantom Tollbooth] first when I was 10. I still have the book report I wrote, which began 'This is the best book ever.'"
--Anna Quindlen, The New York Times
Hailed as “a classic. . . . humorous, full of warmth and real invention” (The New Yorker)
"The Phantom Tollbooth leaps, soars, and abounds in right notes all over the place, as any proper masterpiece must." Maurice Sendak, on the 35th anniversary of the publishing.
Booklist - For youngsters who prefer a spoonful of plot to a diet of wordplay, this lively rendition provides a welcome entrée into the author’s nonsensical world. — Kristi Elle Jemtegaard
New York Times - "something wonderful for anybody old enough to relish the allegorical wisdom of Alice in Wonderland and the pointed whimsy of The Wizard of Oz".
Kansas William White Master List WINNER 1963
Scholastic Parent & Child 100 Greatest Books for Kids WINNER 2012
TimeOutNewYorkKids.com 50 Best Books for Kids WINNER 2012
Parents’ Choice Classic Award WINNER 2011
George C. Stone Centre For Children’s Books Award
" I read [The Phantom Tollbooth] first when I was 10. I still have the book report I wrote, which began 'This is the best book ever.'"
--Anna Quindlen, The New York Times
Hailed as “a classic. . . . humorous, full of warmth and real invention” (The New Yorker)
"The Phantom Tollbooth leaps, soars, and abounds in right notes all over the place, as any proper masterpiece must." Maurice Sendak, on the 35th anniversary of the publishing.
Booklist - For youngsters who prefer a spoonful of plot to a diet of wordplay, this lively rendition provides a welcome entrée into the author’s nonsensical world. — Kristi Elle Jemtegaard
New York Times - "something wonderful for anybody old enough to relish the allegorical wisdom of Alice in Wonderland and the pointed whimsy of The Wizard of Oz".