by Norton Juster
ages: 10+
First sentence: “There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself — not just sometimes, but always.”
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I missed this one as a kid. I don’t know how; it seems like it would have been the perfect one for a pretentious reader like myself. But, for whatever reason, I didn’t first encounter the Tollbooth until I was married, and Hubby (who loved the book as a kid) introduced it to me. I bought it early on in our marriage for him (we own the 35th anniversary edition), read it, loved it, and didn’t pick it up again.

So, when I was asked by a friend to review it for her website (she’s working me through a bunch of Middle Grade classics), I was excited to pick it up again, especially since I didn’t remember it well enough to write a lengthy review.

The story, if you haven’t read this yet, is about a boy named Milo, who is constantly and persistently bored. One day, he comes home from school to find a tollbooth with instructions: “Easily assembled at home, and for use by those who have never traveled in the lands beyond.” Curious, he assembles it, gets in his little car, and heads off to have Adventures. He visits lands, meets an actual “watchdog”, rescues princesses, and makes it home in time for dinner.  (And it was still hot?)

This book is has clever coming out of it in spades. So much so, that I think, even though it’s geared towards middle grade kids, the older you are, the more you get out of it. While it can work as a adventure book, if you know about “jumping to conclusions”, if you have a grasp of idioms, if you get the whole double meanings of our language, you’ll get just how wonderfully clever this book is.

It’s also surprised me just how didactic it is. Juster has a Moral Hammer (“Knowledge is good. Boredom is bad. Get out there and Observe the World with all its Wonders.”) and he pounds. it. over. your. head. But, honestly? You don’t mind. Because it’s fun. It’s clever. It’s interesting. It’s amusing. And yeah, maybe you’ll even get the moral in the end (it’s pretty dang hard to miss), and Do Something About It.

Even if you don’t, it’s a ingenious middle grade book. And definitely worth reading.