The phantom tollbooth

Gr 3--7--Milo always wants to be somewhere other than where he is and never knows what to do with himself when he gets there. One day a tollbooth arrives in his room. After depositing his coins and driving past, he finds himself in the magical land of Expectations. He soon begins a journey to rescue the Princesses Rhyme and Reason in order to bring peace back to the land. Along the way he meets an assortment of outlandish characters, including his companions Tock, the ticking watchdog, and the Humbug. They make stops in places like the Doldrums, Dictionopolis, and the Silent Valley. Filled with wordplay, humor, and irony, Juster's classic is still a hit. Rainn Wilson does a lovely job differentiating among all the characters, effortlessly booming, then whispering, and moving from silly to serious. There's even a special appearance by Wilson's son as the .58 boy. Juster voices the introduction where he describes what led him to write the book. VERDICT This audio production will be a great addition to any library collection.--Elizabeth Elsbree, Krug Elementary School, Aurora, IL

Justers classic tale about a bored boy named Milo who finds adventure and fodder for the mind in the Lands Beyond gets new attention in this audio production read by actor Wilson (The Office). With a large cast of colorful characters, plenty of conversation, and sophisticated puns and wordplay, this book requires precise and purposeful pronunciation and energetic differentiation of voices, and Wilson succeeds. He conveys the sense of a crowd of people when needed, pauses just long enough for puns to click, and expresses, in turn, all the boredom, confusion, excitement, and bewilderment of our hero-in-the-making. autumn allen July/Aug p.151(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.