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La Caseta Magica

norton juster

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Norton Juster's timeless, bestselling novel will reach an even wider readership with this outstanding Spanish translation. The tale of ten-year-old Milo and his experiences in the Lands Beyond has become a modern-day children's classic.

0 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1,1961

This edition

Format
0 pages, Library Binding
Published
August 1, 2001 by Bt Bound
ISBN
9780613858588
ASIN
0613858581
Language
Spanish; Castilian
Characters More characters
  • Tock

    Tock

    Tock is a "watchdog" (with an alarm-clock in his body) who befriends Milo after saving him from the Doldrums. Tock was based on one of Justers favorite characters, Jim Fairfield from Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy.In the Chuck Jones adaptation...

  • Humbug

    Humbug

    The Humbug is a character of The Phantom Tollbooth. He went along with Milo on his adventure....

  • Milo (Phantom Tollbooth)

    Milo (phantom Tollbooth)

    ...

More editions

About the author

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norton juster

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Norton Juster was an American academic, architect, and writer. He was best known as an author of children's books, notably for The Phantom Tollbooth and The Dot and the Line.

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 99 votes)
5 stars
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99 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
jaded-eagle
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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It's been a long time since I first read this book, but it's still as good as ever, with its witty and delightful wordplay and paradoxes, and the transformation of Milo from a boy who is bored with everything to one who is curious, observant, thoughtful, and eager to learn. It's a fun, imaginative fantasy for all ages.
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cherryUwUOwO
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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Now this is my kind of children’s book! I just know my child self would have adored this unique story that is so reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland(which was my absolute favorite). It’s wonderfully abstract, plays with language and has the best coded message you could give a child. A true classic indeed.
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KrisHeart
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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Well I've had this book up on my goodreads shelves for a long time but had no particular idea what to write about it save: Clever playful little book about a boy who drives through the phantom tollbooth of the title and winds up on a quest to rescue the Princesses Rhyme and Reason. Witty. Until this morning. First I read Lisa's review, then I went for a walk. Then a thought blown out of the bending branches of a tree fly via my ear directly into my mind, that it was curious that a freewheeling adventure starts with a tollbooth, with its associations of paying for access. Indeed our hero does have to make a token payment, but then I recalled The Talking Parcel, in which the youthful heroes travel to their adventure by train, and I believe it is the case that in the Harry Potter adventures the children also travel by train  as though Kings Cross isn't crowded enougheven at the end of Narnia it is by means of a train accident that the final characters transfer via death in life to life everlasting. It would seem crude and low even by my own  complete lack of standards to make a cultural point here about the differences between the USA and Britain in terms if individualist car driving versus collectivist sharing of train journeys  with the communion of train picnics revealed through children's writing, but today that's all I've got.
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Sabireta
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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Apparently a classic in the US; I wanted to read it because I vaguely remembered snippets of it - I think I must have read it at a library or the like.

In the end, I could see why it might be loved by some children - those fascinated by language, in particular. And why, with its combination of whimsy and morality, it might be a subject of nostalgia among adults, even among those who may not have loved it as much as they remember in childhood.

Because I can also see why I didn't love it - why I vaguely remembered it, fondly, but never had my own copy, never even remembered the name or the author until my memory was jogged. An 'Alice' for the modern world, it's less strange and more superficial than Carroll's work: essentially it's a moral-political treatise (the modern non-spiritual world is filled with nonsense and chaos because we have lost our sense of Rhyme and Reason, which must be restored to bring about a spiritual reawakening of modern America, as we each improve ourselves, transforming ourselves into a heroic ideal of Manhood in much the same way that children themselves must grow up; also, it's all the fault of science and immigrants), liberally sweetened with continual puns. Some of them are quite clever puns, and the Moral Message is less aggressive and more heartwarmingly, platitudinously encouraging (and safely vague and non-specific) when taken over the course of a novel than when reduced in summary. But...

I'm not really sure who the book is for. Young children who are not obsessed with language will probably find the continual wordplay going over their head, and the Message a tad too subtle to spot. Adults who appreciate the Message and understand the jokes (if that's what we're to call them) are likely to be left unsatisfied by the superficiality, and lack of plot or pacing, and the lack even by the standards of children's novels of any sort of characterisation.

Apparently the book was written to appeal to nostalgia, and that might be its niche: those who want to immerse themselves in a nostalgic romance of Lost Childhood - particular those for whom that childhood once included this book. Perhaps it's a book that children are encouraged to read so that they can feel nostalgic about it later...


Slightly more extensive review over on my blog.
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Feitan_exe
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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"In this box are all the words I know," he said. "Most of them you will never need, some you will use constantly, but with them you ask all the questions which have never been answered and answer all the questions which have never been asked. All the great books of the past and all the ones yet to come are made with these words. With them there is no obstacle you cannot overcome. All you must learn to do is use them well and in the right places."

"And remember also," added the Princess of Sweet Rhyme, "that many places you would like to see are just off the map and many things you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach. But someday you'll reach them all, for what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow."


When I started to re-read The Phantom Tollbooth a few weeks ago, I was very excited, but I was also a little bit nervous. I have a special, uncritical reverence for this book, the sort that you can only really have for books you read when you were very young. I remember every picture in this book, and I remember it being filled with words and numbers and quite a lot of joy. It was lovely. I was afraid that a re-read as an adult would leave me feeling as if it wasn't as good as I remembered (or, maybe worse, that I've just grown up into a grumpy cynic).

But instead I was greeted with the pleasant surprise that The Phantom Tollbooth is still wonderful, and - without me realizing it, really - I think it had a huge determining course on who I wound up being as a person. I can't tell you how many times I came across sections that I probably didn't even entirely understand the first time through, but which are now really central and important to me. The second quote up there is pretty much a longer version of one of my absolute favorite quotes as an adult.

The Phantom Tollbooth is funny and sad and hopeful. There are loads of puns that should be kind of dumb, but instead are endearing and fun. It's full of reverence for words and their potential power, and its just imbued all the way through with a wonder for absolutely everything in the world. Go read it! It's the best.
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BreezyDizasta
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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Towering classic of world literature. So wonderful. If you haven't read it since you were a child, re-read it.
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mew_shy_weeb
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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they’re giving out bagfuls of pronouns to children in this. would recommend. i’ll take some to go.
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fbh
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 31,2025
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Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth made me happy. I loved the puns and playfulness. Even a dumb kid like me could appreciate the cool jokes. It's the language of words and numbers in a place that you can actually reach. Not "Learning is fun!" propaganda but "Hurry up, slow poke!" adventure stories in the vein of all the best ones. It's good for you.

I loved that Milo wanted to be away when he was home and away when he was home. No phantom tollbooth ever appeared to take me away (at least that wasn't in this book). I'd probably have gone on the adventure and then pined the rest of my days for another one... I was really good at missing the point of these kinds of stories. Have fun at home? Make friends at home? But I missed *those* friends!

In my lower self-esteem moments I'll still identify with The Terrible Trivium. I'm probably weird...

p.s. They made us watch the cartoon in elementary school. I started my infamous "1970s cartoon walk" in part because of this. Too bad it wasn't actually from the '70s. I suck.

P.s.s. And I never tagged this under "dogs" ("myonlyfriend", duh!). I really do suck. I'm sorry, Tock!
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