The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (1993)

Suddenly finding himself smack in a strange land where thinking too little will detour you into the Doldrums for miles and miles of nothingness, a bored ten-year old boy relearns how to jumpstart his life with the magical help of a gift he discovers in his room after school. A letter tells him to put the tollbooth together to take a journey into the land beyond in his electric car and so with nothing better to do, he amuses himself by playing along. He randomly chooses his destination from the enclosed map, Dictionopolis (a city of words where words are eaten, bought and sold, and spelled out). Imagine his shock when after paying the toll, he finds himself headed down an empty road in a brightly-colored world he s never seen before!

The first sign he encounters says Welcome to Expectations and offers help for the confused traveler. After blowing his horn as instructed, he hasn t a second to wait before a short, fat man in a toga-like garment dances and leaps to greet him. With a babbled welcome of my, my, mys, he introduces himself as the Whether man. The boy, whose name is Milo, naturally assumes he has met the Weatherman. Soon the mix-up is discovered, though, and here are some of the intriguing things the man says:

Oh no I m the Whether Man, not the Weather Man, for after all it s more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be Expectations is the place you must always go to before you get to where you re going. Of course, some people (people like him) never go beyond Expectations, but my job is to hurry them along *whether* they like it or not

Whether or not you find your own way, you re bound to find some way. If you happen to find my way, please return it, as it was lost years ago. I imagine by now it s quite rusty. You did say it was going to rain, didn t you?

This kind of nonsensical talk is but the first example in his journey to Dictionopolis and from there to the end. The author, Norman Juster, is an architect, planner and emeritus professor of design at Hampshire College as well as an author of many children s books back in 1961 and it certainly shows in the wonderfully clever play on words, clich s and common sayings throughout his book.

An example is that after literally jumping to the island of Conclusions, Milo and his companions (a watchdog with a watch for his stomach and the grumpy Humbug) meet a fellow who doesn t remember his name, so they ask him to describe himself. He singsongs that he s as tall as can be and grows taller in front of them and he s as short as can be, thereupon shrinking to the size of a pebble. His description goes on through many more levels like this, which is helpful to children learning their vocabulary. Other characters teach spelling, synonyms, homonyms, metaphors, story problems to teach math, mathematical shapes and that wisdom needs Rhyme and Reason, who have been banished to the Castle in the Air. This is why there is so much nonsense going on.

After vowing to not waste time again by jumping to Conclusions, Milo realizes he has been doing way too much of that and agrees to save the Princesses Rhyme and Reason in spite of harrowing demons trying to stop him one way or another. It is a lot of fun and a satisfying battle between good and evil that children in grade school will enjoy. Heck, I even got a kick out of all the funny characters they meet, told from Milo's point of view. Some teach him silly things like sound is created by determining what it looks like and a silent orchestra led by a conductor creates the dawn while he watches.

This book ends with Milo having learned to enjoy his life by living bravely in the moment instead of expectations that keep him from seeing what is around him. If you know of a child who always complains that he s bored and has nothing to do, then I can think of no better gift for him than The Phantom Tollbooth. While there are black and white drawings throughout, it is a fairly lengthy book at 256 pages and twenty chapters. I recommend taking turns reading it, if your child is in about third grade, or reading it to those younger with voices to match the characters. It ll be as much fun and captivating as the Harry Potter series, perhaps a lot more, as well as a first-class motivator to learn, to enjoy reading and to break out of the Doldrums!