The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

 

"You may not see it now, but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your food, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever you're sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer."

                -the Princess of Pure Reason, from the novel

In past years, I have not read a great deal of fantasy but when I was teaching later elementary grades, I had several favorites, including this one. Since I am a great believer in education and a logophile (lover of words), this novel is special. Juster uses SO much figurative language, adding great humor with personification, paradox, onomatopoeia, idioms and puns, as well as repetition and a liberal sprinkling of synonyms and homonyms. I haven't read it in years but enjoyed it still. I will rate it 5.

Main character Milo is a bored kid who sees almost everything as a waste of time. One day he returns home from school and finds a surprise---a tollbooth with a map and an instruction manual and a note that says "FOR MILO, WHO HAS PLENTY OF TIME." When he drives his toy car through the tollbooth, he goes "beyond Expectations" where he meets the Whether Man. Soon after he reaches the Doldrums and comes across the watchdog, Tock, who will become a loyal companion on his journey. The two of them enter Dictionopolis where there is a Word Market being held. When they get in the middle of a riot caused by the Spelling Bee and the Humbug, they are jailed by Officer Short Shrift. In prison they meet Faintly Macabre, the not-so-wicked Which (not Witch), who tells them the story of how the Kingdom of Wisdom became divided by the sibling rivalry of two brothers---Azaz who would become king of Dictionopolis and the Mathemagician who would rule Digitopolis. In their conflict they have banished the Princesses Rhyme and Reason and everyone in the land has been unhappy in their absence.

After the Which tells them how to get out of jail, Milo and Tock join up with the Humbug and set out to the Castle in the Air to rescue the princesses. A favorite part is when Milo climbs into a wagon and says "How are you going to make it move? It doesn't have a ....."  and the duke says, "Be very quiet...for it goes without saying."

In their quest to find Rhyme and Reason, the three companions meet many more very odd, sometimes scary characters like Chroma the Great, who conducts all the colors of the land; Kakofonous A. Discord, Doctor of Dissonance; the Dodecahedron with 12 faces; the Terrible Trivium and the Senses Taker. I will not spoil the ending although you may be able to predict it.

This novel has been compared to Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It also makes me think of the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.