# The Phantom Toolbooth **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377 "2020-08-30T15:44:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/1 "2020-08-30T15:44:22Z")
Seems like I first read _The Phantom Tollbooth_ in about sixth grade or so and reported to the teacher that this book was the best I had ever read and would highly recommend it. Many years later, I had purchased a copy for each of my nieces and nephews (15 of them) as birthday gifts Fast forward a few years after then and decided to purchase a copy of this “best book that I had ever read” so many years ago to re-read and rekindle some of that sixth grade joy. So, I re-read many chapters of this back, and man, that was some really tough sledding–so incredibly tedious and boring. How could this have ever been my best book? And what an embarrassment to have given this book to all of my nieces and nephews. Have you ever had a similar experience? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/2 "2020-08-30T15:48:29Z")
Sure, but _The Phantom Tollbooth_ wasn’t one of 'em. If you’re 6th or 7th grade it’s still fantastic. I gave it to my daughter when she was that age and she loved it, and my grandson loved it when he was that age. _The Three Musketeers_ isn’t as good as I remember it being when I was 13, but it’s still a good book. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/3 "2020-08-30T16:20:31Z")
_The Hobbit_ still has the same appeal to me as it did at 13, but the rest of the series I just cannot slog through anymore. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/4 "2020-08-30T16:58:07Z")
I loved the Phantom Tollbooth when I first read it, age 10 or even younger. Later in high school I used it to write a paper on fables, explaining that it was a fable related in a number of smaller fables. Aced it and impressed the teacher. > [@Superdude](#): > > _The Hobbit_ still has the same appeal to me as it did at 13, but the rest of the series I just cannot slog through anymore. Yeah, same here. LOTR is just tooo loooong. There’s not enough good story to justify it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/5 "2020-08-30T17:54:47Z")
The _Phantom Tollbooth_ was pretty cool. At the right age. But now at this age I’d like to read the _Phantom Toolbooth_: > [@The Phantom Toolbooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377): > > Seems like I first read The Phantom Tollbooth in about sixth grade or so and reported to the teacher that this book was the best I had ever read and would highly recommend it. Many years later, I had purchased a copy for each of my nieces and nephews (15 of them) as birthday gifts Fast forward a few years after then and decided to purchase a copy of this “best book that I had ever read” so many years ago to re-read and rekindle some of that sixth grade joy. So, I re-read many chapters of this… I wonder what it’d be about? Strange adventures in DIY-land? Construction Hacks for Dummies? Enquiring Minds want to know. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/6 "2020-08-30T18:13:56Z")
I just recently sent this book (along with _Black and Blue Magic_) to my ten year old grandson and I hope he enjoys it as much as I did. I’ve reread it as an adult (on account of it was one of the books I read aloud to my kids when they were young) and enjoyed it then right along with them. We went through a bunch of my favorite kid’s books and it gave a different sort of enjoyment to see each book through the eyes of a kid discovering those worlds for the first time. I sent my older grandchild, now a young man in his '20s through the same journey and he’s a dedicated fantasy/SF aficionado now because of it, and yes, _The Phantom Tollbooth_ was one of the books I slipped under his nose. I regret nothing! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/7 "2020-08-30T18:32:09Z")
It is an important book to have read, not so much to re-read. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/8 "2020-08-30T18:45:58Z")
Many years ago I read the books of Niel Hancock, who I thought was just as good as JRR Tolkien. I reread them several years later and thought they were boring and cliche. ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/9 "2020-08-30T19:26:49Z")
**The Phantom Tollbooth** synopsis heading right your way: It tells the **story** of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic **tollbooth** one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, drives through it in his toy car, transporting him to the Kingdom of Wisdom, once prosperous but now troubled. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/10 "2020-08-30T19:39:51Z")
I think he’s looking for info about _The Phantom **Toolbooth** _ That might be a story about a bored middle-aged man who discovers magical tool shed in his backyard. Having nothing better to do he begins to use the tools which transport him to a magical Kingdom of Wisdom where he learns lessons about measuring twice and cutting once with a brand new sliding compound miter saw with laser sight alignment. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/11 "2020-08-30T20:07:31Z")
> [@Hilary\_Algar](#): > > So, I re-read many chapters of this back, and man, that was some really tough sledding–so incredibly tedious and boring. How could this have ever been my best book? > > And what an embarrassment to have given this book to all of my nieces and nephews. I had a pretty similar experience with the Phantom Tollbooth, only I didn’t give it out as a gift. I can re-read a lot of juvenile fiction and appreciate it as an adult. Like for example Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books. But I did love the Phantom Tollbooth as a child and it did not live up to my memory as an adult. However, I don’t think you did anything embarrassing necessarily. There is a reason both of us loved it at one time and it’s considered a classic today. Odds are at least some of your nieces and nephews will get a kick out of it as well. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/12 "2020-08-30T20:26:43Z")
I want to read this book. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/13 "2020-08-30T21:24:15Z")
> [@Hilary\_Algar](#): > > **The Phantom Tollbooth** synopsis heading right your way: > > It tells the **story** of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic **tollbooth** one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, drives through it in his toy car, transporting him to the Kingdom of Wisdom, once prosperous but now troubled. WHOOSH!! FTR I’m not trying to be a jerk. Just making a small joke about your funny typo. > [@TriPolar](#): > > I think he’s looking for info about _The Phantom **Toolbooth** _ > > That might be a story about a bored middle-aged man who discovers magical tool shed in his backyard. Having nothing better to do he begins to use the tools which transport him to a magical Kingdom of Wisdom where he learns lessons about measuring twice and cutting once with a brand new sliding compound miter saw with laser sight alignment. Bingo!! I even included the OP quote box. Whaddayagonna do? ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/14 "2020-08-30T21:41:29Z")
I enjoyed this book as a kid, and when I read it to my son (I can’t remember his age), he said it was his favorite book ever. I enjoyed it rereading it. One book I remember loving as a kid, _Born to Race_ by Blanche Chenery Perrin, seemed boring to me when I reread it as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/15 "2020-08-30T21:49:05Z")
> [@Hilary\_Algar](#): > > **The Phantom Tollbooth** synopsis heading right your way: > [@TriPolar](#): > > I think he’s looking for info about _The Phantom **Toolbooth** _ Are you sure it’s not _The Phantom **Poolboy** _, Jerry Falwell Jr.'s fave book? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/16 "2020-08-30T23:00:26Z")
I first heard part of it on the radio and then read it - when I was middle-school aged. I really loved it then. And while I don’t remember the whole thing, I still remember little jokes from the book and I still find them amusing even all this time later. Not sure I’d still love it the way I did then, but it works for the age it was aimed at and I think I’d still like it were I to re-read it. I definitely do remember not having the slightest idea what a “turnpike tollbooth” was. None of the roads here had tolls at the time and we don’t call the highways “turnpikes” (I think that’s an East Coast term), so I was kind of unclear about what exactly was going on at the beginning of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/17 "2020-08-30T23:54:26Z")
I enjoyed it as a kid and kind of forgot about it over the years. Then I was lucky enough to meet the author, Norton Juster, at a book conference on the 50th anniversary of the release of _Tollbooth._ I went back and re-read it after talking to Juster, and enjoyed it not because it’s a great book for an old dude to read, but just to relive the experience. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/18 "2020-08-31T05:28:28Z")
> [@Hilary\_Algar](#): > > So, I re-read many chapters of this back, and man, that was some really tough sledding–so incredibly tedious and boring. How could this have ever been my best book? Maybe your father just read you the good parts. You could always make an abridgement leaving out the tedious stuff and political satire. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/19 "2020-08-31T11:02:48Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I had a pretty similar experience with the Phantom Tollbooth, only I didn’t give it out as a gift. I can re-read a lot of juvenile fiction and appreciate it as an adult. Like for example Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books. But I did love the Phantom Tollbooth as a child and it did not live up to my memory as an adult. Whereas I found the Prydain books a lot more lightweight than I remember them being (unsurprisingly) but still love The Phantom Tollbooth. It’s even more fun if you read it knowing that Juster wrote some bits deliberately to torment Jules Feiffer the illustrator, culminating in this bit of absolute torture for the guy who had to draw it: > [@](#): > > Just to the left, and not very far away, were the Triple Demons of Compromise - one tall and thin, one short and fat, and the third exactly like the other two. That’s just _evil_. 😈 ---
**Author:** ![GMANCANADA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gmancanada/32/2837_2.png) [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377/20 "2020-08-31T11:54:50Z")
I’ve never heard of the Phantom Tollbooth, but I’m with @LSLGuy - I was thinking the Phantom ToolBooth was a combination of American Horror Story, This Old House and The HItchhiker. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phantom-toolbooth/919377.md?page=2)