# The Phantom Tollbooth

**Author:** Norton Juster
**Lexile:** 1000L
**Grade range:** Grades 4–7
**Age range:** 8–12
**First published:** 1961
**Page count:** 256
**Genre:** Middle Grade Fantasy
**ISBN-13:** `9780394820378`
**ISBN-10:** `0394820371`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/the-phantom-tollbooth
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Bored with everything, young Milo drives a toy car through a mysterious tollbooth into the Lands Beyond, where he journeys to reconcile the warring kingdoms of words and numbers and rescue the princesses Rhyme and Reason. Norton Juster's wordplay-filled fantasy turns idioms and logic puzzles into a quest about curiosity and the value of learning. A grade 4-7 favorite, it is often taught for figurative language and its celebration of intellectual play.

## Themes

- imagination
- adventure
- education
- knowledge and ignorance
- intelligence

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