since I read Robinson Crusoe Defoe's adult version and found colorful than the Classic Comic, suspected books for readers of . Very few works in fact fall category, and those that do classics, such as Alice in land and On Thermonuclear

on Juster, however, has created with an appeal to everyone fuses to take for granted words, sounds, numbers, and all the simple glories. He puts a little Milo into a car run by and fuelled by Jules illustrations, and through realms of human

the way Milo meets a Watchdog job is to prevent people from time (Long ago, the general was: "if there's so much of it, be very valuable," and the thus fell into disrepute.), a Bee (b-e-e-), a Humbug whom loves, and a flock of who bring cliches to life. Juster real respect for the hackneyed he likes to dust it off and you of the time when it shone and really enriched the

warns against the Terrible of petty tasks and , ogre of wasted effort and of habit, the demon of , the Senses Taker ("I help find what they're not looking what they're not listening for, what they're not chasing.... your sense of purpose, take of duty, destroy your sense ...."), the Triple Demons promise (easy to escape because get anywhere at all), the Know-it-all and the Gross .

Digitopolis Milo eats a meal that him hungrier, and later meets who looks like he's split down .

Pardon me for staring,' said Milo, he had been staring for some time. 'But I've never seen half a child before.'

It's .58 to be precise' replied the child from the left side of his mouth (which happened to be the only side of his mouth)...

'What is the rest of your family like?' said Milo, this time a bit more sympathetically.

'Oh, we're just the average family,' he said thoughtfully, mother, father, and 2.58 children--and as I explained, I'm the .58...'

The .58 child then goes on to describe the sense in which numerical averages have their share of use in reality:

'Think of the poor farmer...if there wasn't an average yearly rainfall of 37 inches in this part of the country, all his crops would wither and die...' There are still other advantages...if one rat were cornered by nine cats, then, on the average, each cat would be 10 per cent rat and the rat would be 90 per cent cat. If you happened to be a rat, you can see how much nicer it would make things.'

'But that can never be,' said Milo jumping to his feet.

'Don't be too sure,' said the child patiently, 'for one of the nicest things about mathematics, or anything else you might care to learn, is that many of the things which can never be, often are. You see,' he went on, "It's very much like trying to reach Infinity. You know that it's there, but you just don't know where--but just because you can never reach it doesn't mean that it's not worth looking for.'

Like Leacock

Juster's prose has the wonderful, perceptive quality of Stephen Leacock's best work. His world is filled with motorless cars that go without saying, and synonym buns. There is an island called Conclusions which looks better from a distance and can only be reached by jumping. Though very unpleasant, it is quite difficult to leave....

And like Leacock, like any writer who can really appeal to children, Juster is out to explore, not disillusion. The boundary line he establishes between reality and fantasy is just an imaginary tollbooth, and unlike real tollbooths, this one reimburses itself into obsolescence; after one voyage, Milo's real world has become sufficiently full of exciting ideas.

There is also a beauty to Juster's style. The Princess of Reason, after he rescues her, tells Milo:

'You may not see it now but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever you're and, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer.'

'And remember also,' adds the Princess of Sweet Rhyme, 'that many places you would like to see are just off the map and many things you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach....'

Feiffer, too

Illustrated tactfully and drolly by Jules Feiffer (his suggestive lines don't deprive the imagination of its chance to embellish), The Phantom Tollbooth is a wonderful book to buy for children, parents, or pregnant friends. Remember not to have it gift-wrapped; you'll want to give it the once-over-lightly before passing it on.