The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster

Merry Christmas, everyone! I managed to catch about 20 minutes of the play of this story at school last week (no one knew I had snuck in...dogs aren't allowed at school while kids are there...too bad, right?), and it was wonderful! But I also realized that I had never read this classic tale, and the play definitely sparked my interest! I'm glad it did - what a wonderful story FULL of word play and language twists, with a dose of bored teenager and demons thrown in for fun! In fact, there is so much going on with the writing in this book I sometimes I had to re-read parts of it, because it was very language-rich, in a fun way, like triple chocolate cake (which I shouldn't eat, but still...). This book was first published in 1961, which was way before my time, even in people years, but I don't recall anything at all that made the story seem dated...one sign of a truly good book, I think! Anyway, if you've ever been bored, and you enjoy having words be turned and twisted and explored in really clever and fun ways, like Lemony Snicket meets Alice in Wonderland with a dash of Charley and the Chocolate Factory, give this a try...it's a really fun read! 5 paws (for the play, too)!