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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780394815008
ISBN: 0394815009
Label: Random House
Manufacturer: Random House
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: 1989
Publisher: Random House
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Release Date: August 12, 1961
Sales Rank: 16097
Studio: Random House
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Illustrated in black-and-white. We're celebrating the thirty-fifth anniversary (1996) of this modern kids' classic with a special hardcover edition! This ingenious fantasy centeres around Milo, a bored ten-year-old who comes home to find a large toy tollbooth sitting in his room. Joining forces with a watchdog named Tock, Milo drives through the tollbooth's gates and begins a memorable journey. He meets such characters as the foolish, yet lovable Humbug, the Mathemagician, and the not-so-wicked 'Which,' Faintly Macabre, who gives Milo the 'impossible' mission of returning two princesses to the Kingdom of Wisdom...
Amazon.com:
'It seems to me that almost everything is a waste of time,' Milo laments. '[T]here's nothing for me to do, nowhere I'd care to go, and hardly anything worth seeing.' This bored, bored young protagonist who can't see the point to anything is knocked out of his glum humdrum by the sudden and curious appearance of a tollbooth in his bedroom. Since Milo has absolutely nothing better to do, he dusts off his toy car, pays the toll, and drives through. What ensues is a journey of mythic proportions, during which Milo encounters countless odd characters who are anything but dull.
Norton Juster received (and continues to receive) enormous praise for this original, witty, and oftentimes hilarious novel, first published in 1961. In an introductory 'Appreciation' written by Maurice Sendak for the 35th anniversary edition, he states, 'The Phantom Tollbooth leaps, soars, and abounds in right notes all over the place, as any proper masterpiece must.' Indeed.
As Milo heads toward Dictionopolis he meets with the Whether Man ('for after all it's more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be'), passes through The Doldrums (populated by Lethargarians), and picks up a watchdog named Tock (who has a giant alarm clock for a body). The brilliant satire and double entendre intensifies in the Word Market, where after a brief scuffle with Officer Short Shrift, Milo and Tock set off toward the Mountains of Ignorance to rescue the twin Princesses, Rhyme and Reason. Anyone with an appreciation for language, irony, or Alice in Wonderland-style adventure will adore this book for years on end. (Ages 8 and up)
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
This is one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. I never heard of it growing up, and my parents were diligent in providing us with the classics. Even today most of the customers in my bookstore don't know it exists. This is a crime, because it belongs right up there with Alice in Wonderland and The Wind in the Willows. It's a fantasy about a bored little boy who gets into a magic car and goes through the phantom tollbooth into a land of adventure. He must rescue the princesses Rhyme and ... Read More
Rating: -
"Can you help me?"
"Help you! You must help yourself," the dog replied, carefully winding himself with his left hind leg. "I suppose you know why you got stuck."
"I guess I just wasn't thinking," said Milo.
"PRECISELY," shouted the dog as his alarm went off again. "Now you know what you must do."
"I'm afraid I don't," admitted Milo, feeling quite stupid.
"Well," continued the watchdog impatiently, "since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, ... Read More
Rating: -
A very very good book. In the book, everything is basically literal. For example, the dog, shown on the front cover, named Tock, is a literal "watch dog". A very funny part is where the main characters, Milo and Tock, are in Dictionopolis and they meet the King of Dictionopolis' cabinet. When the Earl (from the Cabinet) said something was "as easy as falling off a log" he actually fell off a log himself. I think that if he had said "easy as pie", a pie would have splatted in his face. Ptbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb!! ... Read More
Rating: -
At first, I simply enjoyed it as a kid.
Later on, as a teen, I looked for it when I was...bored.
Now, I have this book on my shelf, waiting for me (and my nephew, when he's old enough). Except that I find its characters always popping up in the back of my mind.
Those of you that didn't enjoy it: it's okay. Still, the whole point of the book is less about the "incorrect" math problems, lousy puns and nonsensical turns of phrase...and more about seeing life with new eyes.
In any case, come back to it again ... Read More
Rating: -
Reviewed by my 5th grade daughter:
I had to read this book for a fifth grade project. Every day we read a little bit more, and every day when I came home, I told my Mom how much fun I was having reading it and what a great book it was. So, at the next book fair our school had, I bought the book for our whole family.
The book was hilarious and was just way interesting.
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