E05
Book X SBA
Monday March 5, 2012
Text: Mike Lau
Photos: Internet
Bye bye
boredom
In The Phantom Tollbooth life becomes a dull trudge
for schoolboy Milo. But relief comes in the unlikely
form of a tollbooth that leads him to a magical land
W hat’s it about?
MILO is driven to his wit’s end by
the monotony of his life which he
finds materialistic and bland. After
rushing back home from another
boring and pointless day at school he
prepares himself for a “long afternoon”
of moping around in his bedroom. But
he is surprised to find a mysterious package
with the message: “FOR MILO, WHO HAS
PLENTY OF TIME.”
It turns out to be a tollbooth kit, and
with nothing better to do he builds it and
drives his toy car through it. Suddenly, he
finds himself on the road to Expectations.
After chatting to the Whether Man he
gets lost in the Doldrums – a colourless
place where laughing is outlawed.
Salvation comes in the form of Tock, an
irrepressible watch dog with an alarm
clock attached to him, who rescues Milo
from boredom and joins him on his
journey. At Dictionopolis – one of the
two capitals in the fractured Kingdom
of Wisdom – the two get caught up in
a fight between the blustering
Humbug and the Spelling Bee
and are unfairly sent to prison
by the diminutive policeman
Officer Shrift.
While incarcerated, Milo
learns that Wisdom was briefly
peaceful after the adopted sisters
of opposing rulers King Azaz the
Unabridged and the Mathemagician, princesses
Rhyme and Reason, settled all disputes in the
land. Unfortunately the two kings overruled the
princesses’ decision that letters and numbers
were equal and imprisoned the fair maidens in
the Castle in the Air, plunging the kingdom into
chaos. Milo and Tock manage to escape prison
y
Vocabular
monotony (n) 千篇一律
blustering (adj) 吵鬧的
to a word eating banquet thrown by King Azaz,
who permits them to go on a rescue mission
to free the princesses and restore harmony to
Wisdom.
A critical look
USING his love of puns and the wisecracking
of the Marx Brothers, Norton Juster’s wildly
inventive story of a bored boy’s trip into a
land of letters, words and numbers has been
amusing and educating readers since it was
published in 1961. Shining through the novel
is the influence of classic allegorical stories
like Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of
Oz, particularly when Milo meets colourful
characters like Chroma the Great, who plays
the colours of a sunset like an orchestra, and
Alec Bings, a boy with x-ray vision. As Milo
journeys deeper in to the exotic Kingdom
of Wisdom, the riddles he solves and the
characters he meets become ever more
complex and funny.
SBA Corner
Print fiction
Non-print fiction
Print non-fiction
Non-print non-fiction
Book info
Category: fantasy
Author: Norton Juster
ter
Number of pages: 272
ISBN: 978-0007263486
486
Publisher: Harper Collins Chil
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Role-play activity
1. In a group, discuss your favourite allegories in
literature? Why are they more effective in presenting
ideas and philosophies than using mandates?
Among the obstacles and challenges he
2. Try writing your own allegorical stories or poems
faces in the quest to rescue the princesses
about issues that you have strong views about, such
are the Mountains of Ignorance, the Senses
as environmentalism or bullying.
Taker and the Gross Exaggeration Monster.
Milo’s most dangerous encounters are when he washed away after a heavy rainstorm and ends
is forced to jump to the Isle of Conclusions and up on the high seas. The plucky boy and his
then swim through the cold and choppy Sea of annoying family must work together to avoid
Knowledge to reach safety. In addition to clever hungry cannibals and defeat blood-thirsty pirates
wordplay and mathematical conundrums, The to claim a stash of buried treasure.
Phantom Tollbooth tries to impart young readers
with an important life lesson – as long as you are Fattypuffs and Thinifers
learning new skills and challenging yourself you
SIBLING rivalry is taken to a whole new
will not be stuck in the misery of the Doldrums.
level when brothers Edmund and Terry find
themselves on opposing sides in a war between
xplore more
fat and thin people. Fattypuffs believe that having
hourly snacks and naps is the best way to live,
The House That Sailed Away
while Thinifers extol the virtue of work. It is up
MORGAN and his family experience the to the brothers to find common ground between
adventure of a lifetime when their house is the countries.
E
diminutive (adj) 極小的
incarcerated (adj) 監禁
wisecracking (n) 說俏皮話
plucky (adj) 大膽的