The Phantom Tollbooth

This article is about the novel. For the 1970 film adaptation, see The Phantom Tollbooth (film). For the band, see Phantom Tollbooth (band).

The Phantom Tollbooth
Cover illustration of Milo and Tock
AuthorNorton Juster
IllustratorJules Feiffer
GenreFantasy
PublisherEpstein & Carroll, distributed by Random House[1]
Publication date
August 12, 1961[2][3]
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages255
ISBN978-0-394-82037-8
OCLC576002319
LC ClassPZ7.J98 Ph[1]

The Phantom Tollbooth is a children's fantasy adventure novel written by Norton Juster, with illustrations by Jules Feiffer, first published in 1961. The story follows a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth that transports him to the once prosperous, but now troubled, Kingdom of Wisdom. Along with a dog named Tock and the Humbug, Milo goes on a quest to the Castle in the Air seeking the kingdom's two exiled princesses, named Rhyme and Reason. As Milo learns valuable lessons, he finds a love of learning in a story full of puns and wordplay, such as exploring the literal meanings of idioms.

In 1958, Juster had received a Ford Foundation grant for a children's book about cities. Unable to make progress on that project, he turned to writing what became The Phantom Tollbooth, his first book. His housemate, Feiffer, a cartoonist, interested himself in the project. Jason Epstein, an editor at Random House, bought the book and published it. The Phantom Tollbooth received rave reviews and has as of 2021 sold almost five million copies,[4] far more than expected. It has been adapted into a film, opera, and play, and translated into many languages.

Though the book is on its face an adventure story, a major theme is the need for a love of education; through this, Milo applies what he has learned in school, advances in his personal development, and learns to love the life that previously bored him. Critics have compared its appeal to that of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and to L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Additionally Maurice Sendak, in his introductory "An Appreciation" included in editions of the book since 1996, quotes a critic as comparing The Phantom Tollbooth to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress: "As Pilgrim's Progress is concerned with the awakening of the sluggardly spirit, The Phantom Tollbooth is concerned with the awakening of the lazy mind."

  1. ^ a b The phantom tollbooth"] (1st ed.). Library of Congress. 1961. Retrieved June 16, 2019 – via Library of Congress online catalog.
  2. ^ Juster, Norton (1961). The Phantom Tollbooth. Random House Children's Books. ISBN 0394815009.
  3. ^ "The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". Penguin Random House. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  4. ^ Genzlinger, Neil (March 9, 2021). "Norton Juster, Who Wrote 'The Phantom Tollbooth,' Dies at 91". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 21, 2023.