Read Aloud Thursday–The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Reading Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth aloud to my girls was like doing an intellectual and linguistic trapeze act.  Words and phrases that mean one thing in real life take on unexpected, literal meanings in this book, and there are puns galore:  a ticking watchdog named Tock;  princesses named Rhyme and Reason who need to be rescued and returned to their kingdom for wisdom to reign;  An short policeman named (what else?) Officer Shrift; a which (not to be confused with a witch) named Faintly Macabre; and the list could go on and on and on.  Where has this book been all my life?  Seriously!  I loved it–every minute of it, and the girls were happily along for the ride.  For them it was more about Milo’s quest–to find the princesses and return them to their rightful place in the kindgom, thereby reuniting the kingdom of words and the kingdom of numbers.  The story goes from one zany episode to another, in very quick succession.  There’s no down time and not a moment to not pay attention, or you’ll miss something important.  The descriptions fairly sing in this story, and not a word is wasted.  Here’s a bit from the chapter in which Milo conducts an orchestra that literally plays color into the world:

As if understanding his hand signal perfectly, a single piccolo played a single note and off in the east a solitary shaft of cool lemon light flicked across the sky.  Milo smiled happily and then cautiously crooked his finger again.  This time two more piccolos and a flute joined in and three more rays of light danced lightly into view.  Then with both hands he made a great circular sweep in the air and watched with delight as all the musicians began to play at once.

The cellos made the hills glow red, and the leaves and grass were tipped with a soft pale green as the violins began their song.  Only the bass fiddles rested as the entire orchestra washed the forest in color. 

Isn’t that wonderful? 

My only regret, and it’s a small one, is that we read this one a bit too quickly.  I think this is one to read more slowly, to savor every twisted phrase.  Did my girls catch all this wordplay?  Not by a long shot.  I don’t think I caught it all, which is all the more reason to revisit it in a year or two. 

 The Phantom Tollbooth was Juster‘s first published work, which is absolutely amazing.  In 2006, his The Hello, Goodbye Window won the Caldecott Medal for its illustrations by Chris Raschka (whom I’ve written a bit about here).  That’s quite a career, and as of 2010, he was still writing.  Jules Feiffer drew the illustrations for The Phantom Tollbooth, and in 2010 Feiffer and Juster collaborated again on The Odious Ogre.  Wow!  This video is from the 2010 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. {swoon}, and in it Juster and Feiffer discuss their collaboration.  Their part starts at about 3:30. 

 

I’d love to read all of his books.  He is definitely a wordsmith par excellence.  Highly, Highly Recommended.  (Random House, 1961)