50 Fun Facts About The Phantom Tollbooth

Tock, the dog who rescues Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth, has which object built into his body?

An alarm clock takes the place of Tock's body, ticking loudly, which makes him a literal watchdog. His job is to make sure that nobody wastes a minute.

Milo drifts into which grey, sleepy place in The Phantom Tollbooth after daydreaming at the wheel?

The Doldrums is a colourless place where nothing ever happens. Its tiny residents, the Lethargarians, blend in like chameleons by turning the shade of whatever they sit on.

Which two princesses must Milo rescue in The Phantom Tollbooth to bring sense back to the land?

Rhyme and Reason were found as babies in a basket in the old king's garden, and he raised them as his own daughters. Everyone in the land once brought them their quarrels to settle.

What did the princesses of The Phantom Tollbooth rule when asked to rank letters against numbers?

They are equally important, the princesses ruled, and both rulers were so angry at the verdict that they banished the sisters. The kingdom has been in a muddle ever since.

Which saying lets Tock the watchdog glide his friends down from the sky in The Phantom Tollbooth?

Time flies, Milo remembers, so a watchdog ought to manage it too. Tock leaps from a window and glides down to the ground carrying Milo, the Humbug and both princesses.

Which illegal act lets Milo escape the Lethargarians in The Phantom Tollbooth and get moving again?

Thinking is against the law there, and it is also the only way out. Milo drifted in by letting his mind go blank, so Tock tells him to do the opposite to get moving again.

Norton Juster wrote The Phantom Tollbooth as a sideline to which lifelong profession?

Architect Norton Juster quit his job to finish the story, then went back to designing buildings. He co-founded a small firm in Massachusetts and taught design at Hampshire College.

Norton Juster wrote The Phantom Tollbooth to avoid a funded children's book on which subject?

Cities were the subject of a Ford Foundation grant he had won, and guilt over getting nowhere set him scribbling about a bored boy instead. The foundation turned out to be delighted.

What secret about Milo's quest does King Azaz reveal once it succeeds in The Phantom Tollbooth?

It was impossible, the king confesses, and he had kept quiet so that Milo would not be put off trying. He dropped a hint after the banquet, promising to explain once the job was done.

How much time is lost when Milo conducts Chroma's sunrise orchestra in The Phantom Tollbooth?

A whole week flashes past as the sun rises and sets seven times in a few frantic minutes. Chroma wakes at dawn quite unaware that seven days have gone missing.

Which realm of King Azaz does Milo pick as his first destination in The Phantom Tollbooth?

Dictionopolis is where the world's words are bought and sold, and Milo chooses it without much thought. He arrives on market day, when the stalls are piled high with letters.

What does Milo drive through the tollbooth to reach the Lands Beyond in The Phantom Tollbooth?

An electric toy car carries him through, one of the many playthings he was usually too bored to touch. On the far side he is suddenly speeding along a real country highway.

The Phantom Tollbooth's illustrator drew Norton Juster as which talkative character in a toga?

The Whether Man, the first person Milo meets beyond the tollbooth, was a small act of revenge. Juster kept writing scenes that he hoped no artist would be able to draw.

What does Milo say he is doing in The Phantom Tollbooth that makes Tock the watchdog furious?

Killing time is the worst crime a watchdog can imagine, even worse than wasting it. Tock scares the local idlers away, then joins Milo for the rest of the journey.

Where are the princesses of The Phantom Tollbooth held after their feuding guardians banish them?

The Castle in the Air sits at the top of a staircase so tall that climbers push right through the clouds. Demons prowl the slopes beneath it.

Which range in The Phantom Tollbooth is home to the Gelatinous Giant and the Senses Taker?

The Mountains of Ignorance must be crossed to reach the princesses. The book's illustrator drew their demon horde across two pages in the manner of Gustave Doré and called it a favourite.

Travellers in The Phantom Tollbooth who decide things too hastily are whisked to which island?

Conclusions is easy to reach, since visitors simply jump there, yet the only way back is a long swim. One frequent visitor there goes by the name of Canby.

Which brother of King Azaz rules Digitopolis in The Phantom Tollbooth and prizes numbers over words?

The Mathemagician is so set against his brother that he refuses to approve anything Azaz has already approved. He once sent Azaz a letter written entirely in numbers.

Whose brawl with the Humbug knocks over every stall in the Word Market in The Phantom Tollbooth?

The Spelling Bee knocks the Humbug's hat off, the Humbug lashes out with his cane, and the stalls topple like dominoes. Milo and Tock, who did nothing, are the ones arrested.

Which prisoner in The Phantom Tollbooth, the not-so-wicked Which, once chose all the words in use?

Faintly Macabre grew so stingy with words that in the end she allowed none at all, and her great-nephew King Azaz had her locked up. She is the one who tells Milo about the lost princesses.

What happens to diners who eat the subtraction stew served in Digitopolis in The Phantom Tollbooth?

They get hungrier with every spoonful, which leaves the greedy Humbug practically starving after twenty-three bowls.

Which guide to Digitopolis in The Phantom Tollbooth wears a different emotion on each of his faces?

The Dodecahedron is named for exactly what he is, like everything else in Digitopolis. He is baffled by the visitor's name and asks if everybody with one face is called a Milo.

King Azaz's brother works number magic in The Phantom Tollbooth with which giant object as a staff?

A pencil serves as his magic staff, and he later hands Milo a pocket-sized copy of it. Milo uses that gift to work out how many years a demon's pointless chore would take.

Where does Digitopolis get its numbers in The Phantom Tollbooth?

A mine on the edge of town yields numbers chiselled out of the rock like jewels. The image came from one of Norton Juster's university professors, who compared equations to gems.

Milo climbs an endless staircase in The Phantom Tollbooth in the hope of reaching which place?

Infinity is where Milo is pointed when he asks to see the greatest number of all, and he sets off promising to be back within minutes. He soon gives up and trudges down again.

What does Milo prove about the feuding rulers of The Phantom Tollbooth to get his quest approved?

They agree to disagree, Milo points out, which means the pair have agreed on something after all. The ruler of Digitopolis had promised to give way only if that could be shown.

The boy in The Phantom Tollbooth who is only .58 of a child belongs to which kind of household?

An average family has 2.58 children, he explains, so somebody has to be the .58. Milo protests that averages are not real, and the partial child cheerfully sets him straight.

Who sentences Milo to six million years in prison in The Phantom Tollbooth?

Officer Shrift, who is twice as wide as he is tall, acts as policeman, judge and jailer all at once. He likes locking people up far more than keeping them there, so walking out proves easy.

Which character in The Phantom Tollbooth floats in mid-air because he grows downwards, not up?

Alec Bings was born with his head at its grown-up height, and his legs lengthen until his feet touch the earth. He can see straight through things, yet misses whatever is right in front of his nose.

Which place in The Phantom Tollbooth faded from sight because its residents never looked at it?

Reality went unnoticed for so long that it simply withered, yet its people still rush along streets that are no longer there. Its twin, Illusions, looks splendid and never existed.

Which huge-eared quack in The Phantom Tollbooth travels in a wagon mixing remedies from noise?

Kakofonous A. Dischord, self-styled Doctor of Dissonance, sets out to cure people of pleasant sounds. His smoky assistant, the Awful Dynne, gulps down the potion that Milo refuses.

Which word does Milo smuggle out of the Soundkeeper's fortress in The Phantom Tollbooth?

But is the word, cut short in the middle of a protest and left sitting on his tongue. Loaded into a cannon by the silenced villagers, it blasts her vault open and sets every sound free.

Which faceless demon in The Phantom Tollbooth sets Milo to moving sand one grain at a time?

The Terrible Trivium keeps travellers busy with pointless chores, and Norton Juster based him on his own habit of dodging real work. Writing this very book was one such dodge.

Which gift shows Milo that the Demon of Insincerity in The Phantom Tollbooth is a tiny creature?

A telescope handed to him earlier by a floating boy shows things as they truly are. Seen through it, the demon with the frightening voice shrinks to a small, sad-looking animal and slinks off.

What does the Gelatinous Giant of The Phantom Tollbooth fear above all else, despite his size?

Ideas terrify him, so he spends his life trying to look exactly like whatever is around him. Milo only has to threaten to open King Azaz's box of words and the giant lets the travellers go.

Which sound, spilt from a dropped gift, frees Milo from the Senses Taker in The Phantom Tollbooth?

Laughter spills out of the Soundkeeper's parcel and snaps the three travellers out of their trance. A sense of humour, it turns out, is the one sense this demon cannot take.

The Humbug swims through which sea in The Phantom Tollbooth yet climbs out completely dry?

The Sea of Knowledge soaks Milo and Tock to the skin on the long swim back to the mainland, while their know-it-all companion absorbs nothing at all.

Which land does Milo reach first in The Phantom Tollbooth, right after passing the tollbooth?

Expectations is a pleasant place at the very start of the road. Its excitable greeter repeats nearly everything he says and still gives Milo no useful directions.

In The Phantom Tollbooth, what has happened to the tollbooth when Milo gets home the next day?

It has disappeared, leaving only a note saying it is needed by other children who have yet to find their way. Milo is a little sad, then notices how much there is to do right at home.

Which Village Voice cartoonist illustrated The Phantom Tollbooth while housemate to its author?

Jules Feiffer slept in the room below and could hear his housemate pacing at night. Since the author did all the cooking, the artist had to keep drawing if he wanted to eat.

Which Looney Tunes director produced and co-directed the 1970 film of The Phantom Tollbooth?

Chuck Jones had already turned another Norton Juster book into an Oscar-winning short. The author had no say in the feature and admitted in interviews that he never liked it.

Butch Patrick, Milo in the film of The Phantom Tollbooth, was already famous as which sitcom child?

Eddie Munster, the werewolf boy of The Munsters, had made him a familiar face. His scenes as Milo were shot in 1967, yet studio troubles kept the finished film on the shelf until late 1970.

How does the 1970 film of The Phantom Tollbooth show the world beyond the tollbooth?

The Lands Beyond appear in animation, while Milo's bedroom and home town are filmed in live action. The studio behind the film shut its cartoon unit soon after the release.

Critics liken The Phantom Tollbooth to which Victorian tale that Norton Juster had not read?

Alice in Wonderland was unknown to him when he wrote his own story, yet both books send a bored child into a world of absurd logic. Early reviewers also reached for The Wizard of Oz.

Which comedy team, quoted by Norton Juster's father, inspired the puns in The Phantom Tollbooth?

The Marx Brothers were a staple of his childhood, and their straight-faced wordplay runs through the whole book. Its noisy quack doctor is even drawn to look a good deal like Groucho.

Norton Juster says a rave in which magazine saved The Phantom Tollbooth from the remainder table?

The New Yorker ran Emily Maxwell's rave, which set the story beside Pilgrim's Progress as a wake-up call for lazy minds. Until then the author's mother had been badgering bookshops to stock it.

Norton Juster overruled his illustrator to give The Phantom Tollbooth which feature?

An endpaper map was something his favourite childhood books had, The Wind in the Willows among them. He drew a rough one and made his reluctant collaborator redo it in his own style.

Young Norton Juster could only do sums by giving each number a colour, a sign of which condition?

Synesthesia also led him to take spoken words literally as a boy, a habit that grew into the literal-minded jokes of The Phantom Tollbooth.

Which kingdom in The Phantom Tollbooth is split between a lover of words and a lover of numbers?

Wisdom was founded by a young prince who arrived from across the sea. When he died, his realm was divided between his two sons, who have squabbled over it ever since.

Norton Juster wrote The Phantom Tollbooth in which New York borough, the place where he was born?

Brooklyn was his home town, and he was back there after military service, working for a Manhattan firm, when the story of a bored boy took hold of him.