(You can listen to this episode here.)

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 the 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 Deborah’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.