Review: The Phantom Tollbooth

The Phantom Tollbooth
by Norton Juster
Pages: 256
Published by Random House
Publication Date May 9, 2000
Source: Library
Genres: Childrens
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For Milo, everything's a bore. When a mysterious tollbooth appears in his room, he drives through only because he's got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things seem different. Milo visits the island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and goes up against the dastardly Discord and Dynne. By the time Milo and Tock set off toward the Mountains of Ignorance to rescue the twin Princesses Rhyme and Reason, Milo realizes something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it's exciting beyond his wildest dreams...

This has been labeled as a modern classic filled with word play being compared to the likes of Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz.  I’d say this was all correct.   Milo, like Dorothy meets many strange characters on his way to Dictionopolis such as Tock, the watchdog and The Humbug, an over sized insect.  The premise of The Phantom Tollbooth is to rescue Princesses Rhyme and Reason from The Castle In The Sky restoring peace to the land of Wisdom.  This reminded me very much of Mario rescuing Princess Toadstool,dodging the likes of King Koopa along the way.  The ending I found interesting, as the Tollbooth disappears as magically as it appeared almost as if it thought Milo had learned enough from his experience.

I think I’m a little prejudice here because I grew up with Harry Potter and in my mind, nothing can top that.  Well, I was right.  The Phantom Tollbooth has been labeled as a modern classic filled with word play being compared to the likes of Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz. I just didn’t see it. Yes, there was word play that a younger reader may not have picked up on but the story and the hero, Milo didn’t jump out at me and I walked away from the book with no opinion on it one way or another. Granted, I had never heard of The Phantom Tollbooth before if it hadn’t been for book club but if left to my own devises wouldn’t have given it a second glance.