The Phantom Tollbooth

Book Cover

The Phantom Tollbooth is a weird book. However, it has pictures which are very enjoyable!

The Phantom Tollbooth features a young boy named Milo. Milo is bored. He's so very extremely bored. When he is in school he wants out, when he is out he wants in. One day he comes home and finds a package that contains a tollbooth. Through the tollbooth he is taken to the Lands Beyond, a strange, make-believe place full of mysteries and riddles. He travels around in a little car.

Milo and his little car

He then meets a dog name Tock, a literal watchdog, who goes on a quest with him to go rescue the two princesses, Rhyme and Reason. They are also accompanied with another character, the Humbug. 

The Dodecahedron

On the journey the trio encounters many unique, unusual characters, some helpful, most not. They meet characters such as The Dodecahedron, a man with 12 faces, Alec Bings, a boy who floats, and the Soundkeeper, who keeps all sound from the valley the traveled to. They even encounter demons, which I think is terrifying, because a) the demons in the pictures are absolutely horrific, and b) these demons try to trick you into staying with them forever.

This demon reminds me of slenderman

In the end the three do indeed rescue the fair princesses. Milo returns to the real world, promising to return, excited for the many adventures to come. He realizes how unboring (not a word, but who gives?) the world actually is, and decides that he would not go for another trip in the tollbooth because there is just so much to do. (And then he will reach highschool, when he will barely be able to do anything but homework. Just kidding.)

Despite my poor description of the book I highly recommend it if you are looking for something different. It is literally a book of puns, certainly making it a unique piece of literature that is extremely enjoyable. The humor is witty and delivered in a way that reminds me of riddles. There is so much use of figurative language it sort of just blows your mind. Just kidding. But seriously it does. The Phantom Tollbooth such an easy book to read, you fly through it without even realizing the time. Haha, get it? Because Tock is a watchdog who should be helping you keep track of time but since the book Tock is in is so awesome you lose track of time. (I'm not funny but you should laugh anyways because I tried really hard.) Anyways definitely read it when you get the chance!