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''The Phantom Tollbooth'' has been compared to '' The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz '', '' Alice's Adventures In Wonderland '', '' Journey To The West '', and the works of Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein . Juster claims his father's fondness for Puns and The Marx Brothers ' movies as a major influence. THE BOOK'S CREATION Juster wrote ''The Phantom Tollbooth'' (ISBN 0394815009) while he was living in Brooklyn , New York . He had received a grant from the Ford Foundation to write a children's book about urban perception—how people experience cities. After several months of work, he realized he was bored with that project and wrote ''The Phantom Tollbooth'' instead, primarily to amuse himself. Feiffer was a neighbor of Juster's who lived in the same building in Brooklyn Heights. He started contributing illustrations while Juster worked on the novel. Feiffer's illustrations have been part of the book since the first edition. The first edition of ''The Phantom Tollbooth'' was published in September , 1961 . It hasn't been out of print since. PLOT OUTLINE Milo, a young boy bored with school and just about everything else, comes home one day to find the titular Phantom Tollbooth waiting for him in his room. Assembling it, he drives past it in his small car and is carried to the Lands Beyond, where the Kingdom of Wisdom has fallen into disarray because of a feud between King Azaz the Unabridged of Dictionopolis, who considers Words the apex of education, and his brother the Mathemagician, monarch of Digitopolis, a monomaniacal supporter of Numbers . Because of the ongoing words vs. numbers feud, the Princesses of Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason have been banished from the kingdom to The Castle In The Air, which is located high in the fearsome Mountains of Ignorance. Milo, with the help of two companions -- the steadfast watchdog Tock and the blustering Humbug -- must reunite words and numbers by returning the princesses to the kingdom. During his travels throughout the Lands Beyond, (with stops at the Forest of Sight, and the Valley of Sound and an unexpected side-jump to the island of Conclusions) Milo meets a number of characters. Each of them represents a particular branch of knowledge or point of view, and many of them give Milo both something new to think about and a gift that comes in handy later on his quest. Milo's quest concludes when he uses these various gifts to win his way past the demonic inhabitants of Ignorance, rescue the exiled princesses from the Castle in the Air and escape back to Wisdom. He and the rest of the kingdom realize that words and numbers are equally important subjects of learning. And Milo himself realizes that learning is not a waste of time—in fact, it's a joy. Unfortunately, as Milo prepares to return home, Azaz and the Mathemagician seem to be renewing their quarrel; Milo now has a million things to fruitfully occupy his time without leaving his hometown or even his room, but perhaps, before long, other people will be making their own trip through the Tollbooth... CHARACTERS
OTHER VERSIONS In 1969 , animator Chuck Jones adapted '' The Phantom Tollbooth '' into a full-length Feature Film for MGM that combined Live-action and Animation . (Milo's life before traveling to the Kingdom of Wisdom is live-action; after he passes through the tollbooth gate, the movie becomes animated). It features the voices of Butch Patrick (who also plays the real-life version of Milo), Mel Blanc , Cliff Norton and Patti Gilbert. Juster had no input into the film adaptation, and has stated that he's not particularly fond of it. In 1995 , Juster adapted ''Tollbooth'' into a Libretto for an Opera version. Various stage adaptations have been created and performed since ''The Phantom Tollbooth'' was first published. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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