The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Milo is a boy who whenever he was somewhere he wanted to get out of there but whenever he was at the destination he wanted to be somewhere else. Learning about solving problems, the people of the world, and anything really at school is just plain boring. (Who can blame him for saying school is boring?) His life is a blah. He's a very abnormal boy. He sounds too much like an adult. One day that all changes when he finds a mysterious package in his home. He discovers it's a tollbooth. Now all I was thinking was Doctor Who and it came around the same time so I wonder.... Anyways the tollbooth can take him to a place not on Earth. He goes there with his toy car which he drives in. He visits vast places with strange names and strange ways. It reminded me a lot of Alice in Wonderland which I loved that it did.

It was all about words and numbers. There's the kingdom of Wisdom, Digitopolis, and Dictionopolis. He meets a dog called Tock who has a clock on him and a Humbug who wants to please everyone and is a big fat liar. With these two he goes on a quest to find the two princesses who were banished, Rhyme and Reason. You see the world has no rhyme or reason anymore. People are being put away for six million years! There using too much words to say one thing, there is no sound in the Valley of Sound, and more discord surrounds the kingdom. So he has to venture through all the land and has to get past demons to get to the Castle in the Air. The demons sound scarier than they are if you're a parent. They just like to mess with Milo and his friends. This book is like an English teacher's dream. It surprised me how much I did enjoy it. I don't usually like classics so it's always a surprise when I find a classic I like. This book was actually published in the year my parents were born which is pretty funny. I never thought I'd be reading a book published the same year my parents were born. Again with the classics thing. I don't really read older books too. Milo in the end gets the lesson of stopping and smelling the roses. Also there is so much to learn in the world and it can be interesting if you try to see it that way. So it is definitely something I would recommend reading especially if you're reading aloud. It's more fun that way.