The Phantom Tollbooth

Norton Juster and Illustrated by Jules Feiffer

“And in smaller letters at the bottom it concluded: ‘RESULTS ARE NOT GUARANTEED, BUT IF NOT PERFECTLY SATISFIED, YOUR WASTED TIME WILL BE REFUNDED.'”

“‘You jumped, of course,’ explained Canby. “That’s the way most everyone gets here. It’s really quite simple: every time you decide something without having a good reason, you jump to Conclusions whether you like it or not. It’s such an easy trip to make that I’ve been here hundreds of times.”

I have no idea why no one has ever recommended this book to me! The Phantom Tollbooth is a clean cut version of Alice in Wonderland, I loved it. Everyone should give this book a read if you haven’t already. If you enjoy a silly adventure that pokes fun at adulthood and boredom while teaching life lessons, you need to read The Phantom Tollbooth. If you have a young reader in your life, The Phantom Tollbooth would be a fun book to read together.

Milo is a child who is rarely entertained. He spends most of his time bored and somewhat gloomy. Randomly he receives a mysterious package. It contains institutions for how to build a Phantom Tollbooth, a map, and a few toll tokens. Milo hops in the small car and drives through the tollbooth and thus starts Milo’s adventure.

As Milo drives, he travels through many places. Each has their own problems that Milo “fixes” and indirectly a lesson is taught. By far, my favorite fictitious place Dictionpolis where words are grown, sold in a market, and hold special powers. Each location has its own kinks, you have to read The Phantom Tollbooth to discover them all.

The Phantom Tollbooth is on Time’s 100 Best YA of All Time list. I was able to borrow an ebook from my local library. Like I have recommended time and time again, join your library so you can borrow digital content!