THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH 1/8

Chapters 1-5 discussion guide + reading resource

Hello! My name is Olivia and this is For the Love of Words, a reading and creative writing resource for young readers and writers like you.

I am so happy that we are reading this book together! For this first post I’ll be introducing the book, giving you a little background on what makes it so great, some links to cool stuff about it, and then we’ll finish with a few questions to help you think about what you’ve read. 

Because this is a place that celebrates all things words, I hope you’ll share your thoughts and writing in the comments. Feel free to post your answers to questions, or questions of your own, (I always love a good question), or maybe an observation you have, anything book related that you can think of. This space is meant to be interactive. Comment away! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

The next post will be a creative writing prompt and lesson related to this book. Every month I pick a writer and feature their work. So be sure to post your creative writing too! Not just for a chance to be featured, but to share your lovely writing with our community.

Now onto The Phantom Tollbooth, which you can read here for free.

I wrung my hands for a whole week wondering, what book should I feature for the first month? Out of the bounty of truly fantastic writing, which book was thoughtful, creative, and actually enjoyable enough to talk about? But then, after being half crushed by stacks of books, the answer was so obviously obvious.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster is not only a classic and pretty much universally beloved, it is also incredibly relatable and gets to the heart of what an adventure learning and imagination can be!

Originally published in 1961, this classic children’s book wasn’t even written by a writer, or even on purpose! If you have 3 minutes, here is an awesome interview with the author about how an architect ended up penning a masterpiece. The Phantom Tollbooth was also made into a movie. Waaay back in 1970 when movies trailers looked like this. At one point this book was even banned from libraries and schools. More on that later.

But back to the topic at hand. Here is Milo, our main character. Poor Milo.

He doesn’t look too thrilled. He’s bored and doesn’t see the point of doing anything. Relate much? But don’t worry too much about him. He’s about to go through a suspicious yet magical tollbooth that leads him to a wonderful and strange world.

Once you’ve read through the first 5 chapters, peer below for some guiding questions. Basically these are just a few conversation starters to help you think about what you read. The questions range from easy to challenging, so poke around and give some a try. And if you’re up for it, feel free to post answers in the comments to share your thoughts with your fellow readers.