The Phantom Tollbooth

by Norman Juster

Apparently, one of the people who contributed to Amazon's Top 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list really enjoyed bizarre children's books.  I thought A Wrinkle in Time was out there, but The Phantom Tollbooth really takes the cake in that category.  

This novel is about a young boy named Milo who is extremely bored with his really nice house, fancy school, and plethora of toys (your basic first world problems.)  Seemingly to save him from boredom, a tollbooth appears one day in his bedroom (standard.)  He sets it up and drives a toy car through it only to find himself transported to a distant world (basically every child's dream come true.)  There he meets Tock, the watchdog, (a dog that literally is also a watch) and the Humbug who accompany him on his journey.

The entire story is basically one big play on words.  It is extremely inventive and clever the way Juster takes ordinary words, like "watchdog," and gives them a whole new purpose in the book.  The first half of the book Milo and his companions are simply meeting different character in this new world.  About 150 pages in (finally) you're given a purpose to the book: Milo is to rescue Rhyme and Reason, two princesses that have been stowed away in the mystical Castle in the Air.  Because of the absence of Rhyme and Reason, nothing in this world makes any sense.

As the story goes on the characters get even more nonsensical and there is even a troop of demons.  They are not your average every day demons with horns and glowing eyes, however.  They are demons of everyday life.  Like the Demon of Petty Tasks who delays Milo with meaningless jobs or the Demon of Insincerity who can never be trusted to tell the truth.

The slow beginning aside, this book is actually quite clever.  Though some of it may go over the head of the average elementary school kid, it has a great message.  Life's demons are things like boredom, meaningless tasks, insincerity, and the other "bad guys" encountered in the book.  But if you look closely, you can find joy and excitement all around you.