From the Bookshelf of Never too Late to Read Classics…

The Phantom Tollbooth

Norton Juster,

Jules Feiffer (Illustrator)

Start date: October 1, 2020

Finish date: October 31, 2020

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Jan 03, 2018 Meika rated it it was ok

First off, a couple of caveats - I never read this as a kid, and so I'm coming at it from a different perspective. I'm not even sure it's a great kid's book... but I read it because an adult friend of mine said that their therapist said they should read it, and I was intrigued. This is a client who deals with depression and anxiety and self-esteem issues like me (pretty standard issue stuff) so there might be something in this for me, too.
(view spoiler) First off, a couple of caveats - I never read this as a kid, and so I'm coming at it from a different perspective. I'm not even sure it's a great kid's book... but I read it because an adult friend of mine said that their therapist said they should read it, and I was intrigued. This is a client who deals with depression and anxiety and self-esteem issues like me (pretty standard issue stuff) so there might be something in this for me, too.
(view spoiler)[
First off, I totally relate to Milo. Which, if you're in your mid-adulthood and the charm and promise of childhood has worn off and you have to dig deep to find enthusiasm for running amok and wearing imaginative outfits and being excited about a commute or dinner or whatever, I'd say that's normal. Part of adulting is knowing that joie de vivre isn't an entitlement and that sometimes you have to slog and sometimes kraft mac n cheese is dinner and it doesn't taste like it used to. Milo is a kid though, so this is dire. He finds a magic tollbooth in his room. It transports him to a land of mind. It's a geography of how you understand the world - metaphysical made physical - words have tastes and ideas are things and so on. Right off the bat, Milo drives right into the doldrums. They're flat, gray and boring and soporific.
"Maybe this is where the shrinky stuff starts!" I think. Until one of the residents of the Doldrums talks about the daydreaming part of the day (which is framed negatively) and I can't come around on this one. Specifically daydreaming, and it's not just me, but daydreaming is a part of creativity. It's a mode of imagination. But even if you abstract away a bit and think "maybe in the context of therapy a better word would be 'ruminating'," the whole thing is somewhat problematic. There's this punitive tone around dallying. "Wasting time," is exactly what the hero of the situation, The Watchdog hates. He is the enemy of these lazy layabouts in the Doldrums and he tells Milo the way out of the doldrums is through thinking because you got there by NOT thinking (shame). I'm so disappointed by this! Even for a kid's book. Because if you're stuck, you just need to think your way out of it? That's like saying, "just snap out of it!" And coming from a therapist, it really doesn't work.
There are numerous interactions between Milo and other characters that come off as punitive. Milo even ends up in prison with a witch (really a which) and you start to see the broader allegory of "Bureaucracy is stifling" start to emerge (ok sure). You also start to see some of the elementary-school lessons appear pertaining to grammar and math and spelling. Those sections are fun and peppered throughout, no issues with that...
There's also the man who presents himself as the giant, midget (sic), thin man, fat man, etc through different doors to make the point that you have to consider your relative surroundings when accepting labels. "But you're normal!" Milo insists. Well, yes. But there's no guidance for us on what to do if the man actually IS thin or fat or broken or weird. Plus, and I think this is subtext, defining yourself by externals is problematic in the first place.
Then you get to the hardest part, where the demons live in the Mountains of Ignorance. That your demons only have the power you give them, that they can defeat you, and that they're equally defeatable = yes. And I think turning them into silly beasts (Dirty Bird haha) makes them caricatures we can deal with concretely, which is excellent. For kids. But when you're an adult and your demons have grown bigger, uglier, more complicated, and harder to defeat, the sudden appearance of The Army of Wisdom escorting you to Rhyme and Reason is simplistic. But I guess that's on the therapist, not the author. (hide spoiler)] ...more

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Apr 05, 2012 Kate rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2014, abandoned, young-adult

"Inside the mysterious package that Milo found in his room was what looked like a genuine turnpike tollbooth. But Milo was in for an even bigger surprise when he drove his small electric car through the toolbooth gate.

"Suddenly he found himself in The Lands Beyond -- enchanted home of some of the craziest creatures ever imagined. As Milo traveled through this confusing world, he was joined by an ill-mannered little Humbug and a ticking watchdog named Tock. Together these three found thyemselves ...more

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Dec 23, 2010 Jenny rated it really liked it

When I was in second grade, my older cousins gave me their copy of The Phantom Tollbooth to read in the car on the way from Milwaukee back to Arizona. I still remember that they highly recommended the book. I don't remember what I thought of it.

This time around, it was clever and fun. The original illustrations are wonderful and the story is still current. ...more

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May 01, 2024 Frannie Burd rated it it was ok

Having never read this a child, I listened to all the bruhaha and ordered it for my classroom. Before reading it to the kiddos I read it myself and boy, am I glad I did. Very few kids today would even get what's going on here. Most kids barely get puns anymore, let alone literary ones. I found it to be boring and thought the author was trying far too hard to be clever. I'm glad I can say that I've read it, but I'll never recommend it to anyone. ...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Douglas Beagley rated it liked it

The opening chapter and beginning of this book are masterful, and the inventiveness is consistently good. Otherwise? It has not aged well for me. A few more nudges in the second half could have kept us connected and caring about the main character's journey and unified each of the mini-adventures.

Anyway: A really good book and an important one. But not a book I will reread. ...more

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Oct 24, 2007 Laura rated it it was amazing

Shelves: childrens-picture-or-middlegrade, scifi-fantasy

What a great book to instill a love of wordplay in kids. Milo travels through fantasy lands where you eat your own words, and kids grow down instead of up. Simply wonderful.

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