The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

A wittily educational book that’s jam-packed with puns and is a pleasure to read? Of course such a thing exists! Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth is a literary treasure, able to engage even the most skeptical of audiences and leave them wishing, just once, to hear a blindfolded octopus unwrap a cellophane-covered bathtub. 

                Milo is a young boy who spends every minute of every day being bored out of his skull: every occupation seems like a waste of time to him, as he considers both school and play to be equally pointless. So when a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, Milo drives through it simply because he has nothing better to do. This turns out to be the best thing he’s ever done, for the strange and captivating land in which he finds himself has just lost its two princesses and needs a hero to rescue them. Milo takes up the quest with the aid of some queer new friends such as Tock the Watchdog and the Humbug and sets off through a land of dodecahedrons, Doldrums, dissonance, and subtraction soup. As adventures abound and his sense of wonder grows, he realizes that this country has as much help to give him as he has to offer it.

          If every person was required to read this book at least once in his or her life, the world would doubtless be a more adventuresome place. The Phantom Tollbooth is filled with characters and situations which are both riotously funny and heartwarmingly wise, lending a quirky moral to every chapter; furthermore, the lessons offered are such that both adults and younger readers can appreciate their wisdom, including the value of knowledge, the importance of choosing the right word, the perils of jumping to conclusions or lazing around, and the necessity of imagination. Milo himself is delightful; readers will be affected by his mounting excitement as the book progresses and encouraged by his new sense of purpose at the conclusion. Perhaps they will begin waiting for magic tollbooths to appear in their bedrooms in addition to looking for Narnia in their closets.