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Powell's Staff: New Literature in Translation: December 2022 and January 2023 (0 comment)
It may be a new year, this may be a list of new books, but our love for literature in translation hasn’t changed at all, and we are so pleased to be enthusiastically recommending these recent releases. On this list, you’ll find a Spanish novel where controversy swirls around a Coca-Cola billboard...
Read More»
  • Kelsey Ford: From the Stacks: J. M. Ledgard's Submergence (0 comment)
  • Kelsey Ford: Five Book Friday: Year of the Rabbit (1 comment)

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The Phantom Tollbooth

by Norton Juster
The Phantom Tollbooth

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  • Synopses & Reviews

ISBN13: 9780394820378
ISBN10: 0394820371
Condition: Standard


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Staff Pick

The Phantom Tollbooth is the story of Milo, a very bored boy who comes home one day to find a magical tollbooth in his room. When Milo drives his car through the tollbooth gate, he finds himself in the Lands Beyond, a country inhabited by living language in the forms of animals, magicians, royalty, mountains, seas, and cities. From Tock the Watchdog to the listless region of The Doldrums, Milo shakes off boredom as he pursues the kidnapped Princesses Rhyme and Reason and restores peace to the Lands (currently in the clutches of the warring princes, Azaz of Dictionopolis and the Mathemagician of Digitopolis, along with a pack of demons). What sets The Phantom Tollbooth apart from other wonderful swashbuckling middle-readers is that it's also about the transformative power of language: open a book (or drive through a "tollbooth") and even the dreariest day dissolves into the din and glory of adventure. Recommended By Rhianna W., Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Hailed as "a classic. . . . humorous, full of warmth and real invention" (The New Yorker), this beloved story--first published more than fifty ago--introduces readers to Milo and his adventures in the Lands Beyond.

For Milo, everything's a bore. When a tollbooth mysteriously 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 even embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason Somewhere along the way, Milo realizes something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it's exciting beyond his wildest dreams...

Features an appreciation by Maurice Sendak, award-winning author of Where the Wild Things Are

Review

“I read [The Phantom Tollbooth] first when I was ten. I still have the book report I wrote, which began ‘This is the best book ever.’” The New York Times

Review

"You loved the humor and adventure . . . and [now] you'll marvel at [the book's] wit, complexity, and its understanding of how children perceive the passage of time." Entertainment Weekly

Review

"The book lingers long after turning the final page....A classic indeed." Los Angeles Review of Books

Review

"The Phantom Tollbooth is the closest thing we have to a modern Alice in Wonderland." The Guardian

Synopsis

Illustrated in black-and-white. This ingenious fantasy centers 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.

5 12

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 5 (12 comments)

`
Laura Rakestraw , October 21, 2014
One of my favorites from childhood. And adulthood. It never gets old.

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Paul K , January 27, 2014 (view all comments by Paul K)
I can almost definitively say that this book sparked my curiosity in the world, and led me to start thinking about everything in a new way. And today I am getting my PhD in Neuroscience, so clearly this book molds young minds into scientist patterns. Clearly. But seriously, this is a book about puns and words and math, but it is fun and imaginative and, though it was written 50 years ago, still very relevant to life today. I think all children should read this book, or have it read to them by an adult before bedtime.

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Eric Hamell , December 02, 2012 (view all comments by Eric Hamell)
This was the first sizable book I ever read, at age eight. It definitely helped stimulate my intellect, probably because by concretizing abstractions, it made it easier to think about them.

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Lindsay Waite , August 20, 2012 (view all comments by Lindsay Waite)
Young Milo is bored. One day he receives a mysterious package and it is not even Christmas or his birthday. He opens it up and finds parts of a turnpike tollbooth. Instructions begin: "Easily assembled at home, and for use by those who have never traveled in lands beyond." Since Milo has nothing else to do,he puts it together. With some skepticism about whether he will have fun, he enters the tollbooth and passes through to incredible places. Published in New York City in 1961, and illustrated by Jules Feiffer, "The Phantom Tollbooth" has been enjoyed by parents and children for over 50 years now. Milo encounters a watchdog, a large creature perfectly normal except for his body - a ticking clock. In Dictionopolis, Milo goes to the Word Market where five "tall, thin gentlemen regally dressed" talk one after the other: "Greetings!" "Salutations!" "Welcome!" "Good Afternoon!" 'Hello!" Later, as Milo asks whether the words they are saying mean the same thing, they respond: "Of course." "Certainly." "Precisely." "Exactly." "Yes." Readers will find the Humbug, the Gorgons of Hate and Malice, the Demons of Ignorance and other smart and funny characters in this fantastical world. Enjoy, as a young person, and again as an adult.

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wbwilkin_91402 , August 04, 2012
One of the most charming books I have ever read.

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ruta hill , September 01, 2011 (view all comments by ruta hill)
This is a very clever and thought provoking book for pre-adolescent children and those who are children at heart. It is a must read.

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Googles , February 09, 2011 (view all comments by Googles)
I really enjoyed this book. It was amazing. It held my attention the whole way through.

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faob , June 14, 2010 (view all comments by faob)
The book that first made me enjoy reading; The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster, is about a little boy named Milo, who finds himself immersed in a world of imagination. Milo explores the world of the English Idioms the way a child does, bringing the reader to a state of childlike innocents where humor rests every where from the “Road of Expectations” to the “Island of Conclusions”. This book is simply a must read for any person (or watch dog) who enjoys a world where things are just a bit “punny”.

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ulisesf , June 11, 2009
I haven't read the book,I saw the movie when I was a child, I simply loved the story, I'd like to read it, every day comes to me a scene from the movie and it's helpful in everyday's life, as everybody knows a book is more powerful than any picture so I've missed a lot. Bye

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Kimberly Dull , January 06, 2009 (view all comments by Kimberly Dull)
I first read this book in 6th grade and fell in love with it. It's a truly original, fantastical story and is up there with "Alice in Wonderland" in its silly, nonsensical fun. I recently bought it for my godson, and I hope he lends it to me.

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Cathy from Olympia, Washington , July 13, 2008 (view all comments by Cathy from Olympia, Washington)
Milo discovers that a largish package has mysteriously appeared in his room, containing "one genuine turnpike tollbooth." Milo assembles the tollbooth and drives past "for lack of anything to do," quickly finding himself in a totally different world... Juster's novel is a wonderful play on words throughout-- for example in Dictionopolis, land where letters and words are grown for local use and export, one literally eats one's words. And Milo is accompanied on his adventures by Tock, a "watchdog" who ticks and Humbug from the "noble ... Insecticus humbugium" family. I would share more, but don't want to spoil the fun! One of my favorite books ever.

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MichelleBelle , January 17, 2008
A wonderful book that should be deemed the most creative writing ever. Strongly stimulates the imagination, and makes it nearly impossible to put down. It's filled with intelligent humor and exciting moments of surprise. Definitely a must have. And definitely should be read over and over, because it's an exciting, joyful, experience every time!

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780394820378
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
10/12/1988
Publisher:
PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE
Pages:
272
Height:
.67IN
Width:
5.37IN
Thickness:
.75
Age Range:
8 to 12
Grade Range:
3 to 7
Number of Units:
1
Illustration:
Yes
Copyright Year:
1961
Series Volume:
125
Author:
Norton Juster
Author:
Jules Feiffer
Subject:
Puns and punning
Subject:
Fantasy fiction
Subject:
Children's 9-12 - Fiction - Fantasy
Subject:
Childrens classics
Subject:
Imaginary places
Subject:
Children's fiction
Subject:
Fantastic fiction
Subject:
Children's stories, American
Subject:
Fantasy

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List Price:$8.99
Used Trade Paperback
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  • New, Trade Paperback, $8.99
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