The Phantom Tollbooth

Published in 1961, Norton Juster's 'The Phantom Tollbooth' was something I read decades ago as a child. Didn't realize it till halfway through. I was wondering how would this book have escaped my notice.

Back then, I definitely didn't realize the deeper meanings and connotations of the names and allegory used, or even the light social commentary. It was just a story similar to Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland', and akin to being up in Enid Blyton's 'The Faraway Tree' or 'The Wishing Chair', except this is a one-time adventure. Of a tollbooth that landed in a bored schoolboy's room.

This bored boy, Milo crossed to a magical Kingdom of Wisdom. He met watchdog Tock and friend Humbug. Together, they set out to rescue the Kingdom's Princesses Pure Reason and Sweet Rhyme banished and locked up in Castle in the Air for not resolving a dispute between two brothers- King Azaz of Dictionopolis and Mathemagician of Digitopolis. There're the names and lands they travel through, meeting The Lethargarians who live in the Doldrums, then Lands of Ignorance and Context, as well as Island of Conclusions. There're demons. Milo solved word riddles and mathematical problems and saved the Princesses. He felt as though he went away for days, but when he returned to his world, it had only been an hour. Go SparkNote it. Better still, read it slowly.

There're fun ink illustrations by Jules Feiffer. Nothing complicated, easy strokes to compose a scene that might seem like a doodle. Where the foreword might be, is an appreciation written by Maurice Sendak in 1996. Didn't see that in my childhood read. He wrote,

The book treats, in fantastical terms, the dread problems of excessive specialization, lack of communication, conformity, cupidity, and all the alarming ills of our time. Things have gone from bad to worse to ugly. The dumbing down of America is proceeding apace. Juster's allegorical monsters have become all too real.

Wouldn't even call this a re-reading. Beyond remembering the skeleton of what the book is about and the name 'Milo', which brought to mind ice-cold cups of Milo (that chocolate malt milk drink) being handed out free to us schoolchildren during recess time. With new eyes, I understood what Norton Juster wanted to say. By the end of the story, this bored and unengaged Milo suddenly stopped taking things for granted and began appreciating what everyone and everything had to teach him. Themes of education and wisdom abound. Yes, we make what we will out of our lives. That's the gift of our academic pursuits and education- to anchor us in matters of living. The book's final paragraph said it all,

And in the very room in which he sat, there were books that could take you anywhere, and things to invent, and make, and build, and break, and all the puzzle and excitement of everything he didn't know - music to play, songs to sing, and worlds to imagine and then someday make real. His thoughts darted eagerly about as everything looked new - and worth trying. 

"Well, I would like to make another trip," he said, jumping to his feet; "but I really don't know when I'll have the time. There's just so much to do right here."