The Phantom Tollbooth
The Phantom Tollbooth is a children’s fantasy novel written by Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer, published in 1961 by Random House. It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth. Milo acquires two faithful companions and goes on a quest to restore to the kingdom its exiled princesses. In the process, he learns valuable lessons, finding a love of learning. The book received rave reviews and has sold in excess of three million copies, far more than expected.
About The Phantom Tollbooth in brief
The Phantom Tollbooth is a children’s fantasy novel written by Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer, published in 1961 by Random House. It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, drives through it in his toy car. Milo acquires two faithful companions and goes on a quest to restore to the kingdom its exiled princesses. In the process, he learns valuable lessons, finding a love of learning. The book received rave reviews and has sold in excess of three million copies, far more than expected. It has been adapted into a film, opera, and play, and translated into many languages. Critics have compared its appeal to that of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and to L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The text is full of puns and wordplay, such as when Milo unintentionally jumps to Conclusions, an island in Wisdom, thus exploring the literal meanings of idioms. Milo and Tock leave for Dictionopolis, one of two capital cities of the divided Kingdom of Wisdom, and home to King Azaz the Unabridged. Along the way, they meet the Spelling Bee and the blustering Humbug, who talk themselves into a dangerous quest to rescue the princesses, Rhyme and Reason. They then set off for the capital of Digitopolis, where they must gain the approval of the Mathemagician’s capital, Digit, before they can begin their quest to save the princess.
They end up being guides into their quest, with Tock being their guide, and the boy, a dog and insect, set off as their guide. The book is on its face an adventure story, but a major theme is the need for aLove of education; through this, Milo applies what he has learned in school, advances in his personal development, and learns to love the life that previously bored him. In the book, Milo meets the Which, also known as Faintly Macabre, long in charge of which words should be used in Wisdom. He tells Milo how the two rulers, King Azazer and his brother, the Matagician, had two adopted younger sisters whom everyone came to love. All lived in harmony until the rulers disagreed with thePrincesses and banished them to the Castle in the Air, where numbers were important to them. They banished them, and since then, the land has not had neitherRhyme nor Reason, nor has the land had neither had neither of their words, served to them on plates. A short Officer Shrift, known as the Which, is the watchdog of Wisdom’s capital city, and he tells Milo that only by thinking can he get out of the Doldrums. Milo begins with Expectations, a pleasant place where he starts on Wisdom’s road. Head abuzz with unaccustomed thoughts, Milo is soon back on his road.
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This page is based on the article The Phantom Tollbooth published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
