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I just finished this book with my oldest boy. I've been reading a chapter or two out loud to him every night when we can manage it.
I never read The Phantom Tollbooth before, so it had no particular nostalgic appeal to me. But I'd heard about it, and it was in my house (somehow) so I decided to give it a try.
Here's the short version: Meh.
It's not awful. But it wasn't great, either.
Overall, I found reading it to be a bit of a slog. When thinking ahead to reading time at night, I want to be excited. It's special time with my boy. But instead when I thought about this book, I mostly wanted to get through with it I could start reading a different, more engaging, book together with my boy.
Here's the long version:
Irritations:
1. No plot or tension.
I'm fairly sure the formal term for a book like this is a picaresque. It's mostly just a series of adventures and visits to interesting places. There's not much of a plot.
And before you get all impressed that I know that term, I'd like to mention that I only learned it in 2010 by listening to an interview with Neil Gaiman where he was discussing American Gods. I remember thinking, "Huh, apparently I've written a picaresque. I wish I'd known that about 10 years ago…."
Here's the thing, while plot isn't the focus of a picaresque, you can still tell an engaging story. There's plenty of tension in American Gods. There's a mystery and action and questions that need answering. "What's up with Wednesday?" "What's going on with Shadow's wife?" "What's happening in this small Midwestern town?" And there is the overarching story arc about the war between the new gods and the old gods.
My point is, there's a lot of things going on in American Gods. Many things to make you curious. Many things to pull you into the story in addition to the interesting people and places that we meet through the course of the story.
Phantom tollbooth doesn't have that. It's the story of a boy who goes places and stares around in amazement as things happen around him. He and his companions (for the most part) don't do anything. They're reactive, not active, and they're not particularly clever… Which leads to my next gripe…
2. The characters aren't that interesting.
If your main character's motivation is that he's bored… well… that's not really edge-of-the-seat material is it?
Don't get me wrong. I don't need an apocalypse. I don't need something to blow up. But we need *something* to provide excitement in the story. The Laura Ingalls Wilder books were fucking gripping. There were snowstorms and locusts and fucking bears. Just getting water or going to town was an adventure in those books.
Charlie and the Chocolate factory is a picaresque too, of a sort. Every different piece of the factory is like a separate land and adventure. But Charlie is *interesting.* And Wonka is doubly so. The grampa and all the other kids might be fairly simple characters, but they all have personalities.
I just wasn't feeling the same way about the people in this book. Most of them were just some clothes loosely draped around rather thin jokes.
3. It's Chaffy.
There's a lot of what I consider "Junk Dialogue" in this book. People talking without saying anything purposeful. People arguing about nothing in particular. People repeating themselves. And a *lot* more description than I was particularly interested in.
I know it might seem hypocritical for someone who wrote a 400,000 word novel to bitch about another author's economy of phrase. But the truth is, I make sure every scene and sub-scene in my books accomplish at least three productive things, more if I can manage it.
And let me tell you, when you're reading a book out loud, you can tell when it's full of pointless description and dialogue. When you're reading to yourself you can skim without hardly realizing it. Not so when you're reading aloud to a child.
Enjoyments:
1. I got to experience Oot's first pun. I think it was witch/which. I got to see the light go on in his head when he understood the joke. That's worth a lot.
(No. Wait. It was the Watchdog. He's a dog with a clock in his body.)
He also enjoyed the fact that the Watchdog could fly a little because of the expression "time flies."
That said, he didn't get about 85% of the jokes in the book. They were just too abstract language-wise.
2. Some of the concepts were fun and clever.
I'm willing to admit that Oot is simply too young for this book. There were jokes about multiplication in there. And jokes about turns of phrase that he didn't know. And puns about expressions he'd never heard.
But I don't think it's entirely fair to blame it on his age. There was a demon in there called a Dilemma that chased people and tried to gore them on its horns. You could easily be in your twenties and not know the expression, "on the horns of a Dilemma."
3. My boy liked it well enough.
When I asked him, he said he liked it. What's more, he remember the events and the characters better than I did.
That said, he never came up to me holding the book and said, "Let's read some more!" Like he did with Spiderwick, the Hobbit, or many others. So this probably counts as a pretty lukewarm endorsement from him as well.
So… yeah. Didn't love it. Didn't hate it. The sum total probably comes down slightly on the irritated side of indifferent.
My advice? This is a book that your kid probably needs to be 10 to really enjoy, as it's got a lot of wordplay in it. And honestly, 12 might be better.
Even so, I can think of a lot of books that are much more enjoyable with a lot less effort.
I never read The Phantom Tollbooth before, so it had no particular nostalgic appeal to me. But I'd heard about it, and it was in my house (somehow) so I decided to give it a try.
Here's the short version: Meh.
It's not awful. But it wasn't great, either.
Overall, I found reading it to be a bit of a slog. When thinking ahead to reading time at night, I want to be excited. It's special time with my boy. But instead when I thought about this book, I mostly wanted to get through with it I could start reading a different, more engaging, book together with my boy.
Here's the long version:
Irritations:
1. No plot or tension.
I'm fairly sure the formal term for a book like this is a picaresque. It's mostly just a series of adventures and visits to interesting places. There's not much of a plot.
And before you get all impressed that I know that term, I'd like to mention that I only learned it in 2010 by listening to an interview with Neil Gaiman where he was discussing American Gods. I remember thinking, "Huh, apparently I've written a picaresque. I wish I'd known that about 10 years ago…."
Here's the thing, while plot isn't the focus of a picaresque, you can still tell an engaging story. There's plenty of tension in American Gods. There's a mystery and action and questions that need answering. "What's up with Wednesday?" "What's going on with Shadow's wife?" "What's happening in this small Midwestern town?" And there is the overarching story arc about the war between the new gods and the old gods.
My point is, there's a lot of things going on in American Gods. Many things to make you curious. Many things to pull you into the story in addition to the interesting people and places that we meet through the course of the story.
Phantom tollbooth doesn't have that. It's the story of a boy who goes places and stares around in amazement as things happen around him. He and his companions (for the most part) don't do anything. They're reactive, not active, and they're not particularly clever… Which leads to my next gripe…
2. The characters aren't that interesting.
If your main character's motivation is that he's bored… well… that's not really edge-of-the-seat material is it?
Don't get me wrong. I don't need an apocalypse. I don't need something to blow up. But we need *something* to provide excitement in the story. The Laura Ingalls Wilder books were fucking gripping. There were snowstorms and locusts and fucking bears. Just getting water or going to town was an adventure in those books.
Charlie and the Chocolate factory is a picaresque too, of a sort. Every different piece of the factory is like a separate land and adventure. But Charlie is *interesting.* And Wonka is doubly so. The grampa and all the other kids might be fairly simple characters, but they all have personalities.
I just wasn't feeling the same way about the people in this book. Most of them were just some clothes loosely draped around rather thin jokes.
3. It's Chaffy.
There's a lot of what I consider "Junk Dialogue" in this book. People talking without saying anything purposeful. People arguing about nothing in particular. People repeating themselves. And a *lot* more description than I was particularly interested in.
I know it might seem hypocritical for someone who wrote a 400,000 word novel to bitch about another author's economy of phrase. But the truth is, I make sure every scene and sub-scene in my books accomplish at least three productive things, more if I can manage it.
And let me tell you, when you're reading a book out loud, you can tell when it's full of pointless description and dialogue. When you're reading to yourself you can skim without hardly realizing it. Not so when you're reading aloud to a child.
Enjoyments:
1. I got to experience Oot's first pun. I think it was witch/which. I got to see the light go on in his head when he understood the joke. That's worth a lot.
(No. Wait. It was the Watchdog. He's a dog with a clock in his body.)
He also enjoyed the fact that the Watchdog could fly a little because of the expression "time flies."
That said, he didn't get about 85% of the jokes in the book. They were just too abstract language-wise.
2. Some of the concepts were fun and clever.
I'm willing to admit that Oot is simply too young for this book. There were jokes about multiplication in there. And jokes about turns of phrase that he didn't know. And puns about expressions he'd never heard.
But I don't think it's entirely fair to blame it on his age. There was a demon in there called a Dilemma that chased people and tried to gore them on its horns. You could easily be in your twenties and not know the expression, "on the horns of a Dilemma."
3. My boy liked it well enough.
When I asked him, he said he liked it. What's more, he remember the events and the characters better than I did.
That said, he never came up to me holding the book and said, "Let's read some more!" Like he did with Spiderwick, the Hobbit, or many others. So this probably counts as a pretty lukewarm endorsement from him as well.
So… yeah. Didn't love it. Didn't hate it. The sum total probably comes down slightly on the irritated side of indifferent.
My advice? This is a book that your kid probably needs to be 10 to really enjoy, as it's got a lot of wordplay in it. And honestly, 12 might be better.
Even so, I can think of a lot of books that are much more enjoyable with a lot less effort.
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The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
Milo is a boy bored by the world around him; every activity seems a waste of time. He arrives home from another boring day at school to find a mysterious package. ... The Phantom Tollbooth is a children's fantasy adventure novel written by Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer, published in 1961 by Random House (USA).
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: سال 1999 میلادی
عنوان: باجه عوارض شهر خیالی؛ نویسنده: نرتن (نورتون) جاستر؛ مترجم: شهلا طهماسبی؛ نقاشی: جولز فیفر؛ تهران: نشر چشمه، کتاب ونوشه، 1377؛ در 248 ص؛ شابک: 9646194699؛ موضوع: داستانهای نوجوانان از نویندگان ایالات متحده امریکا - سده 20 م
میلو، پسری بی حوصله و افسرده است که بسیاری از کارهایش، همانند مدرسه رفتن، انجام تکالیف و نظایر آن را بیهوده میپندارد. او یک روز هنگامی که وارد اتاقش شد بسته مرموزی دید که... ا. شربیانی
Milo is a boy bored by the world around him; every activity seems a waste of time. He arrives home from another boring day at school to find a mysterious package. ... The Phantom Tollbooth is a children's fantasy adventure novel written by Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer, published in 1961 by Random House (USA).
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: سال 1999 میلادی
عنوان: باجه عوارض شهر خیالی؛ نویسنده: نرتن (نورتون) جاستر؛ مترجم: شهلا طهماسبی؛ نقاشی: جولز فیفر؛ تهران: نشر چشمه، کتاب ونوشه، 1377؛ در 248 ص؛ شابک: 9646194699؛ موضوع: داستانهای نوجوانان از نویندگان ایالات متحده امریکا - سده 20 م
میلو، پسری بی حوصله و افسرده است که بسیاری از کارهایش، همانند مدرسه رفتن، انجام تکالیف و نظایر آن را بیهوده میپندارد. او یک روز هنگامی که وارد اتاقش شد بسته مرموزی دید که... ا. شربیانی
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Books only make me laugh when they are very silly. I have the impression that it's difficult to find them. The Phantom Tollbooth is one exception. I read it at the beginning of this year. It clearly was the craziest and funniest thing I've read in a while.
The style reminded me a lot of Alice in Wonderland: both books have a similar structure and use a lot of puns. Hearing this, one might thing that The Phantom Tollbooth is a copy of Alice. But even though there are similarities the two books a very different. I love them both and I think I can say that The Phantom Tollbooth is even a bit better than Alice.
By the way, on the cover you can see a watch-dog :)
The style reminded me a lot of Alice in Wonderland: both books have a similar structure and use a lot of puns. Hearing this, one might thing that The Phantom Tollbooth is a copy of Alice. But even though there are similarities the two books a very different. I love them both and I think I can say that The Phantom Tollbooth is even a bit better than Alice.
By the way, on the cover you can see a watch-dog :)
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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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‘welcome to the island of conclusions!’
‘but how did we get here…?’ wondered milo.
‘you jumped, of course!’ explained canby.
i must have read this book for the first time when i was about 9 or 10 and i will forever attribute it to how my love of words, puns, and silly idioms began. its a major part of my sense of humour, one that started developing with this story. and the wordplay in this is even more enjoyable as an adult.
there are many reasons why reading childrens literature past childhood is beneficial for a reader. where i was always enamoured by milos adventures to dictionopolis and beyond, its now the meaning behind his journey that really hits home.
↠ 5 stars
‘but how did we get here…?’ wondered milo.
‘you jumped, of course!’ explained canby.
i must have read this book for the first time when i was about 9 or 10 and i will forever attribute it to how my love of words, puns, and silly idioms began. its a major part of my sense of humour, one that started developing with this story. and the wordplay in this is even more enjoyable as an adult.
there are many reasons why reading childrens literature past childhood is beneficial for a reader. where i was always enamoured by milos adventures to dictionopolis and beyond, its now the meaning behind his journey that really hits home.
nthese types of messages arent always missing from adult literature, but rarely are they presented in such an innocent and hopeful way. i think its a good thing to momentarily revert back to the mindset of a child, where dreams are infinite and limits are suggestions.n ‘so many things are possible just as long as you dont know they are impossible.’nn
↠ 5 stars
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oh man. it's like amelia badelia for halfway-grownups.
here's what i think of when i think of the phantom tollbooth:
-people trying (and failing) to feed themselves with five-foot long spoons
-people having to (but not wanting to) eat their words
-semi-philosophical ideas about time and being and the way people treat themselves and each other*
what a doozy of a book! is it enough to say that i la-la-love it? no? okay, well let me add this: i think you should read it. really.
and yes, i do mean YOU specifically. try it out and let me know what you think, please. happy reading!
*NOTE: the lazy philosopher inside me...(whom my 11th grade baruchians got to know well sometime during the outsider in america book groups unit (do you remember, 301 and 303? boal and howard s. becker and freire?))...anyway my lazy philosopher really just eats this book up, what with its silly notions and its serious (?) undertones. at least i think there were some serious undertones when i last read the phantom tollbooth (e.g. when i was 10).
so really please do try the book! and if you love it (or hate it) please let me know, because i'm debating how soon to start rereading it. thanks in advance and enjoy!
p.s. IMPORTANT ADDENDUM: i have to say that my memories of this book are rosier than my current experiences with it--i stopped about 100 pages in. but only because i was getting a little nonplussed (if one can "get nonplussed") about where it was going, and i figured i'd rather spend my energy on a book i was really motivated to finish.
but if i ever finish it, i'll add a p.p.s. to tell you all about how that went for me.
here's what i think of when i think of the phantom tollbooth:
-people trying (and failing) to feed themselves with five-foot long spoons
-people having to (but not wanting to) eat their words
-semi-philosophical ideas about time and being and the way people treat themselves and each other*
what a doozy of a book! is it enough to say that i la-la-love it? no? okay, well let me add this: i think you should read it. really.
and yes, i do mean YOU specifically. try it out and let me know what you think, please. happy reading!
*NOTE: the lazy philosopher inside me...(whom my 11th grade baruchians got to know well sometime during the outsider in america book groups unit (do you remember, 301 and 303? boal and howard s. becker and freire?))...anyway my lazy philosopher really just eats this book up, what with its silly notions and its serious (?) undertones. at least i think there were some serious undertones when i last read the phantom tollbooth (e.g. when i was 10).
so really please do try the book! and if you love it (or hate it) please let me know, because i'm debating how soon to start rereading it. thanks in advance and enjoy!
p.s. IMPORTANT ADDENDUM: i have to say that my memories of this book are rosier than my current experiences with it--i stopped about 100 pages in. but only because i was getting a little nonplussed (if one can "get nonplussed") about where it was going, and i figured i'd rather spend my energy on a book i was really motivated to finish.
but if i ever finish it, i'll add a p.p.s. to tell you all about how that went for me.
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What a delightful little book! Every chapter held something new to chuckle at, wonder at, and take to heart.
With a dash of "Alice in Wonderland," a generous helping of childhood whimsy, and a refreshing dose of common sense, Milo's journey through the Kingdom of Wisdom left me much to ponder. This is definitely a book I'll read to my future kids one day!
And that ending! Perfect. Satisfying. It stirred up that sense of having an immeasurable world of wonder at your fingertips. It makes me want to read, walk, learn, sit still, and discover all at once--and what could be better than that?
Many thanks to the dear friend who sent me this lovely birthday present! <3
With a dash of "Alice in Wonderland," a generous helping of childhood whimsy, and a refreshing dose of common sense, Milo's journey through the Kingdom of Wisdom left me much to ponder. This is definitely a book I'll read to my future kids one day!
And that ending! Perfect. Satisfying. It stirred up that sense of having an immeasurable world of wonder at your fingertips. It makes me want to read, walk, learn, sit still, and discover all at once--and what could be better than that?
Many thanks to the dear friend who sent me this lovely birthday present! <3
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My copy of this book is so old — there’s no bar code, and at the top it says 95¢. This is one of the books that my dad read to me when I was little. A lot of the puns went over my head, but I loved the world and the goofy characters, and I’d stare at the map for a long time. By now I’ve read it quite a few times but almost seem to notice something new.
The whole book is a play on words with lots of idioms expressed literally:
“I didn’t know that I was going to have to eat my words,” objected Milo.
“Of course, of course, everyone here does,” the king grunted. “You should have made a tastier speech.”
“How are you going to make it move? It doesn’t have a —”
“Be very quiet,” advised the duke, “for it goes without saying.”
There is still a plot, though, and a quest and dangerous demons and so on. The story is a celebration of knowledge and using information wisely. I don’t think the book translates well into other languages with all the plays on words. There are a number of idioms that have fallen out of use as well, sadly.
Book Blog
The whole book is a play on words with lots of idioms expressed literally:
“I didn’t know that I was going to have to eat my words,” objected Milo.
“Of course, of course, everyone here does,” the king grunted. “You should have made a tastier speech.”
“How are you going to make it move? It doesn’t have a —”
“Be very quiet,” advised the duke, “for it goes without saying.”
There is still a plot, though, and a quest and dangerous demons and so on. The story is a celebration of knowledge and using information wisely. I don’t think the book translates well into other languages with all the plays on words. There are a number of idioms that have fallen out of use as well, sadly.
Book Blog
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☾ ⋆n n read n n⋆ ☽
this book is so carefree
this book is so carefree
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I love (good) children's books, and this is definitely one of the best I've ever read. My only regret is that I didn't get to enjoy it as a child.
I recommend reading Mia's review, because it's a true work of art, and without it, I would have never learnt about this wonderful little book.
The Phantom Tollbooth is a delightful book full of wordplay, and what incredible wordplay at that! It is a children's book, which not just teaches about numbers and letters and words and responsibility, but I recommend it for all users, young and old. It is full of interesting, absurd, ridiculous characters like the Whether Man, the Watch Dog, kings Azaz and Mathemagician, princesses Rhyme and Reason; as well as fascinating places like the Island of Conclusions and the Valley of Silence. It is full to the brim with puns, alliterations, rhymes and such utterly clever wordplay, I probably literally squealed in delight sometimes.
Take, for instance, part of the Lethargians' schedule:
n “From 9:30 to 10:30 we dawdle and delay.
“From 1:00 to 2:00 we linger and loiter.
“From 4:00 to 5:00 we loaf and lounge until dinner.
“From 6:00 to 7:00 we dillydally.n
On the way, Milo, the ten year old protagonist, learns many valuable lessons; such as learning to pick his words carefully before speaking, so he can make sense, and understanding the importance of mathematics in life. He also learns that most things in life are only impossible, if one perceives so. He learns about the meaning of sound, and the value of silence. Most of all, he learns to learn from his mistakes. He learns that things we see may not always be as they seem, and that it is important to understand rather than just idly see.
n “You must never feel badly about making mistakes,” explained Reason quietly, “as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.”n
I myself had so much to learn from the book, betwixt all the laughs and the amusement provided by the wordplay. Math, for instance, has always been my Achilles' heel. I also have the terrible habit of jumping to conclusions. The vivid imagery provided by this book on both these...elements kind of made me want to work on myself in these aspects. Remember that without Rhyme of Reason, a Castle of Air will always float away. Remember the importance of an Average, and the problems with Overbearing Know-it-All and Gross Exaggeration.
It's a little difficult for me to write anymore than I have, for fear of spoiling this, but I recommend it highly. Read it if you're feeling bored; read it if you're feeling low. Whether a child or an adult, you'll laugh, cry, learn, and be a little bit wiser after you're done.
I recommend reading Mia's review, because it's a true work of art, and without it, I would have never learnt about this wonderful little book.
The Phantom Tollbooth is a delightful book full of wordplay, and what incredible wordplay at that! It is a children's book, which not just teaches about numbers and letters and words and responsibility, but I recommend it for all users, young and old. It is full of interesting, absurd, ridiculous characters like the Whether Man, the Watch Dog, kings Azaz and Mathemagician, princesses Rhyme and Reason; as well as fascinating places like the Island of Conclusions and the Valley of Silence. It is full to the brim with puns, alliterations, rhymes and such utterly clever wordplay, I probably literally squealed in delight sometimes.
Take, for instance, part of the Lethargians' schedule:
n “From 9:30 to 10:30 we dawdle and delay.
“From 1:00 to 2:00 we linger and loiter.
“From 4:00 to 5:00 we loaf and lounge until dinner.
“From 6:00 to 7:00 we dillydally.n
On the way, Milo, the ten year old protagonist, learns many valuable lessons; such as learning to pick his words carefully before speaking, so he can make sense, and understanding the importance of mathematics in life. He also learns that most things in life are only impossible, if one perceives so. He learns about the meaning of sound, and the value of silence. Most of all, he learns to learn from his mistakes. He learns that things we see may not always be as they seem, and that it is important to understand rather than just idly see.
n “You must never feel badly about making mistakes,” explained Reason quietly, “as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.”n
I myself had so much to learn from the book, betwixt all the laughs and the amusement provided by the wordplay. Math, for instance, has always been my Achilles' heel. I also have the terrible habit of jumping to conclusions. The vivid imagery provided by this book on both these...elements kind of made me want to work on myself in these aspects. Remember that without Rhyme of Reason, a Castle of Air will always float away. Remember the importance of an Average, and the problems with Overbearing Know-it-All and Gross Exaggeration.
It's a little difficult for me to write anymore than I have, for fear of spoiling this, but I recommend it highly. Read it if you're feeling bored; read it if you're feeling low. Whether a child or an adult, you'll laugh, cry, learn, and be a little bit wiser after you're done.
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Illustrations by Jules Feiffer
From the book jacket - Through the Phantom Tollbooth lies a strange land and a series of even stranger adventures in which Milo meets some of the most logically illogical characters ever met on this side or that side of reality, including King Azaz the Unabridged, unhappy ruler of Dictionopolis; the Mathemagician; Faintly Macabre, the not-so-wicked Which; and the watchdog Tock, who ticks.
My Reactions
I’ve been hearing about this book forever, but never read it before. I’m so glad I finally got to it! It is an absolute delight. I love Milo – a boy “who didn’t know what to do with himself” – and his spirit of adventure. Boredom may have led him to the Doldrums, but his thinking brain gets him through the magical Kingdom of Wisdom, across the Valley of Sound, up the Mountains of Ignorance to the Castle in the Air, to rescue the imprisoned Princesses Rhyme and Reason and return them to the Kingdom.
What I find particularly delightful is the way Juster plays with words and ideas. Introducing readers (young and old) to some lofty ideas and imparting more than a little wisdom along the way. I kept jotting down quotable passages. For example:
”I never knew words could be so confusing,” Milo said to Tock as he bent down to scratch the dog’s ear. “Only when you use a lot to say a little,” answered Tock.
“…that explains why today people use as many words as they can and think themselves very wise for doing so. For always remember that while it is wrong to use too few, it is often far worse to use too many.”
“The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what’s in between, and [people] took great pleasure in doing just that. Then one day someone discovered that if you walked as fast as possible and looked at nothing but your shoes you would arrive at your destination much more quickly. Soon everyone was doing it. They all rushed down the avenues and hurried along the boulevards seeing nothing of the wonders and beauties of their city as they went.”
“Infinity is a dreadfully poor place. They can never manage to make ends meet.”
Children will enjoy the adventure and fantastical characters, and hardly notice how their vocabularies are expanding. Adults will enjoy it even more for the intelligent use of words. It’s been over fifty years since this book was first published, but I feel certain it will remain popular for at least another fifty years.
* * * * * * * * * *
Re-read 18July15 and found it just as delightful as the first time!
From the book jacket - Through the Phantom Tollbooth lies a strange land and a series of even stranger adventures in which Milo meets some of the most logically illogical characters ever met on this side or that side of reality, including King Azaz the Unabridged, unhappy ruler of Dictionopolis; the Mathemagician; Faintly Macabre, the not-so-wicked Which; and the watchdog Tock, who ticks.
My Reactions
I’ve been hearing about this book forever, but never read it before. I’m so glad I finally got to it! It is an absolute delight. I love Milo – a boy “who didn’t know what to do with himself” – and his spirit of adventure. Boredom may have led him to the Doldrums, but his thinking brain gets him through the magical Kingdom of Wisdom, across the Valley of Sound, up the Mountains of Ignorance to the Castle in the Air, to rescue the imprisoned Princesses Rhyme and Reason and return them to the Kingdom.
What I find particularly delightful is the way Juster plays with words and ideas. Introducing readers (young and old) to some lofty ideas and imparting more than a little wisdom along the way. I kept jotting down quotable passages. For example:
”I never knew words could be so confusing,” Milo said to Tock as he bent down to scratch the dog’s ear. “Only when you use a lot to say a little,” answered Tock.
“…that explains why today people use as many words as they can and think themselves very wise for doing so. For always remember that while it is wrong to use too few, it is often far worse to use too many.”
“The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what’s in between, and [people] took great pleasure in doing just that. Then one day someone discovered that if you walked as fast as possible and looked at nothing but your shoes you would arrive at your destination much more quickly. Soon everyone was doing it. They all rushed down the avenues and hurried along the boulevards seeing nothing of the wonders and beauties of their city as they went.”
“Infinity is a dreadfully poor place. They can never manage to make ends meet.”
Children will enjoy the adventure and fantastical characters, and hardly notice how their vocabularies are expanding. Adults will enjoy it even more for the intelligent use of words. It’s been over fifty years since this book was first published, but I feel certain it will remain popular for at least another fifty years.
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Re-read 18July15 and found it just as delightful as the first time!
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