{"id":13588,"date":"2010-02-15T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-15T20:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philosophyforchildren.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/"},"modified":"2010-02-15T12:04:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-15T20:04:00","slug":"the-phantom-tollbooth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Phantom Tollbooth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_I-bvyBpij2c\/S3mcUiqnCwI\/AAAAAAAAAUg\/iND4liyk4p8\/s1600-h\/808862_f520.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438549901743426306\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_I-bvyBpij2c\/S3mcUiqnCwI\/AAAAAAAAAUg\/iND4liyk4p8\/s400\/808862_f520.jpg\" style=\"cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 262px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div>I recently reread <i>The Phantom Tollbooth<\/i> by Norton Juster, one of my favorite books in elementary school. Published in 1961, with marvelous line drawings by Jules Feiffer, the book tells the story of Milo, a bored young boy who sees thinks that everything is a waste of time. He is given a gift of a magic tollbooth that allows him to explore new places and teaches him that the world is fascinating and beautiful.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Full of puns, logic puzzles and philosophical jokes, the novel is a great one to read and discuss with your child or with a class of children. It raises questions about perception (can you see sounds?), the nature of reality (what is infinity?), the meaning of life, knowledge and the mind, the power of words and numbers, nothingness, and the ways in which our perspectives construct the reality we think we know. Funny and exciting, the book is great fun and a philosophical treasure chest for young people.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently reread The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, one of my favorite books in elementary school. Published in 1961, with marvelous line drawings by Jules Feiffer, the book tells the story of Milo, a bored young boy who sees thinks that everything is a waste of time. He is given a gift of a <a href=\"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  The Phantom Tollbooth<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[199,196,195],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childrens-literature","category-philosophy-for-children","category-wondering-aloud"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Phantom Tollbooth - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Phantom Tollbooth - a post from PLATO - The Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Phantom Tollbooth - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Phantom Tollbooth - a post from PLATO - The Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PLATO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PLATOPhilosophy?fref=ts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-15T20:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/808862_f520-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"794\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jana Mohr Lone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@WGAdmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@platoorg\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jana Mohr Lone\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/73f61769c3bfdaeefc1633dd9cc8d59c\"},\"headline\":\"The Phantom Tollbooth\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-15T20:04:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":164,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/808862_f520-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Children's Literature\",\"philosophy for children\",\"Wondering Aloud\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Phantom Tollbooth - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/808862_f520-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-15T20:04:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Phantom Tollbooth - a post from PLATO - The Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/808862_f520-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/808862_f520-1.jpg\",\"width\":520,\"height\":794},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/the-phantom-tollbooth\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Phantom Tollbooth\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"PLATO\",\"description\":\"Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/05\\\/Plato-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/05\\\/Plato-Logo.png\",\"width\":354,\"height\":181,\"caption\":\"Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/PLATOPhilosophy?fref=ts\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/platoorg\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/73f61769c3bfdaeefc1633dd9cc8d59c\",\"name\":\"Jana Mohr Lone\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/473310b56e100f9d73f672c58969cae8bd9860fca5c0310556a9ddb201f31e37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/473310b56e100f9d73f672c58969cae8bd9860fca5c0310556a9ddb201f31e37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/473310b56e100f9d73f672c58969cae8bd9860fca5c0310556a9ddb201f31e37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jana Mohr Lone\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.plato-philosophy.org\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/WGAdmin\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/plato-philosophy.org\\\/author\\\/jana\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Phantom Tollbooth - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization","description":"The Phantom Tollbooth - a post from PLATO - The Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Phantom Tollbooth - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization","og_description":"The Phantom Tollbooth - a post from PLATO - The Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization.","og_url":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/","og_site_name":"PLATO","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PLATOPhilosophy?fref=ts","article_published_time":"2010-02-15T20:04:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":520,"height":794,"url":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/808862_f520-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jana Mohr Lone","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@WGAdmin","twitter_site":"@platoorg","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/"},"author":{"name":"Jana Mohr Lone","@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/#\/schema\/person\/73f61769c3bfdaeefc1633dd9cc8d59c"},"headline":"The Phantom Tollbooth","datePublished":"2010-02-15T20:04:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/"},"wordCount":164,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/808862_f520-1.jpg","articleSection":["Children's Literature","philosophy for children","Wondering Aloud"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/","url":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/","name":"The Phantom Tollbooth - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/808862_f520-1.jpg","datePublished":"2010-02-15T20:04:00+00:00","description":"The Phantom Tollbooth - a post from PLATO - The Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/808862_f520-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/808862_f520-1.jpg","width":520,"height":794},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/the-phantom-tollbooth\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Phantom Tollbooth"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/","name":"PLATO","description":"Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/#organization","name":"Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization","url":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Plato-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Plato-Logo.png","width":354,"height":181,"caption":"Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PLATOPhilosophy?fref=ts","https:\/\/x.com\/platoorg"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/#\/schema\/person\/73f61769c3bfdaeefc1633dd9cc8d59c","name":"Jana Mohr Lone","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/473310b56e100f9d73f672c58969cae8bd9860fca5c0310556a9ddb201f31e37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/473310b56e100f9d73f672c58969cae8bd9860fca5c0310556a9ddb201f31e37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/473310b56e100f9d73f672c58969cae8bd9860fca5c0310556a9ddb201f31e37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jana Mohr Lone"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.plato-philosophy.org","https:\/\/x.com\/WGAdmin"],"url":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/author\/jana\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}