“There once was a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself – not just sometimes, but always.” Milo always longs to be somewhere else. He’s bored in school and longs to be home, but then when he gets home he wants to be somewhere else. Nothing is ever really interesting until one day he receives a mystery package containing one (1) phantom tollbooth. Milo sets up the tollbooth, gathers the change and then charges up his little electric car and drives […]
“What you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.”
My father is an excellent book narrator. He was in theater in high school and college (because quote “that’s where all the babes were.”) so he does all the voices and all the sounds. He was the ideal father for a bedtime story and my nephews are currently reaping the benefits of his talents. When we were younger my dad would also play rhyming games with my sister and me, driving our mother crazy, and even now he is always there with a pun. All of […]
There are worse excuses…
As part of my quest to create the perfect library for the octospawn, I realized I’d only ever read an excerpt from this book and felt the need to correct that error. I enjoyed the read, but kind of understood why the parental units didn’t make it essential reading in the Thorpe house. The Phantom Tollbooth is too clever by half, a criticism which pains me to bestow as I’m pretty sure my entire personality is based on being clever and charming, and if you […]
This return to childhood never disappoints (a slightly feminist review)
I’m not sure how old I was the first time I encountered The Phantom Tollbooth, but I do recall that my first exposure was in an anthology in an elementary grade reading class. We read the chapter on the Royal Banquet, where Milo is forced to “eat his words.” It strikes me that this book is likely the first exposure kids have to really understanding figures of speech and the complexity of the English language. For those who haven’t read The Phantom Tollbooth, well first […]