The Phantom Tollbooth (1961)

 

Milo is a bored and rather boring young boy of a nondescript age.  He goes through just existing, rather than living.  I think the word used to describe him would be "meh."  One day, a strange package shows up in his room.  He opens it, follows the directions and builds a tollbooth.  Once he goes through it he ends up in the Kingdom of Wisdom.  He soon finds out the kingdom has fallen on troubled times, and the Princesses of Rhyme and Reason have been exiled.  His mission, once he decides to accept it, is to bring back Rhyme and Reason to the kingdom.  There is only one problem with this adventure, but he can't be told what it is until he accomplishes his task.

This book was written by Norton Juster in 1961.  It was illustrated by Jules Feiffer, in his own inimitable style.  The movie adaptation was released in 1970.   I saw that first, then read the book.  This was probably in 1972 or so.  I don't remember, since that was a long time ago.  I really enjoyed the movie, which is why I read the book.  At that age, I was still learning about books being the original and the movies being the adaptations.  

I had not read the book since then, and got a copy recently.  The writing is quite witty, full of clever turns of phrase.  Sometimes books don't live up to the 50 year old memories, but this is like reading a new book.  I am going to watch the movie again after I finish the book.