On this episode, Mary Grace and Deborah discuss The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster's 1961 classic about Milo, a boy who's bored with life until a mysterious tollbooth takes him and his electric car to The Lands Beyond, where he meets the warring kings of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis and many other memorable characters. Jules Feiffer's numerous illustrations are as important a part of the story as the text.
This is the last episode of our first season. We'll be back in May.
Mentioned on this episode:
The Dot and the Line (1963), written and illustrated by Norton Juster
The Odious Ogre (2010) by Norton Juster, illustrated by Jules Feiffer
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
The New York Times Book Review podcast's 2020 interview with Jules Feiffer, where he talks about his friendship and collaboration with Juster
Juster's 2021 New York Times obituary
A 2015 Smithsonian Magazine profile on Juster where he discusses his synesthesia
Recommended for fans of The Phantom Tollbooth:
Half Magic by Edward Eager
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and the other Oz books
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.
You can find Debby’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.
This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.
#children's books
Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com