When I was in elementary school, specifically fourth grade, our teacher was very helpful in finding books that everyone was going to enjoy reading. Literature is so important to me that I even decided to minor in it in college.
Like the one I am about to review, there are many books that changed my life and made me enjoy the ever-expanding world of literature. This book was so important to me and made me love puns, spoonerisms and wordplay in general.
The book I am referring to is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. The characters in this book have stayed with me many years later because all of them have something to do with the English language and forms of creativity.
The main character, Milo, is transported to a new location thanks to a Tollbooth that shows up in his room. Milo is given many tasks to find his way home again and gets introduced to some of the most memorable characters in children’s literature.
The characters that he spends time with all have very different personalities and perspectives on the world. There are many different forms of wordplay, and names of characters are all based on the semantics of the English language.
This made the novel one of the most entertaining reads for someone who was just developing their love of the world of writing and reading. When my teacher assigned this book to the class, it immediately grabbed everyone’s attention.
I remember, in one of my creative writing classes at the college, my professor said that every sentence should either be an explanation or something that moves the plot forward. This novel really goes in depth with that. Every character mentioned helps provide a forward motion for the rest of the novel.
This novel is one that I think should be taught in every elementary school. The sentences are very simple, but the writing helped to shape my love for the world that Norton Juster built in his novel. The novel has many twists and turns but, in the end, everything is explained and everything has a reason.
This was one novel that I think everybody in the class enjoyed because we could see ourselves as the main protagonist. It is a story that you can read multiple times and gain something new every time that you read it.
I think that the world could use more novels like this and that they should be introduced to us when we are young so we can appreciate them when we are older.
This novel helped show me that we all must learn about the world around us. The more we read literature like this novel, the more we learn about ourselves and our inner and outer voices, not only as young people, but also as people who are interested in the world of education and those who enjoy a quality piece of American children’s literature.
