Norton Juster has passed away. He was 91.
March 9, 2021 12:19 PM Subscribe
NPR obituary for the author of The Phantom Tollbooth and The Dot and the Line, which were made into cartoons by Chuck Jones. Norton Juster at Wikipedia. Quotes from The Phantom Tollbooth at Goodreads.
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posted by wanderingmind at 12:21 PM on March 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by wanderingmind at 12:21 PM on March 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
Aw, jeeze. I didn't even know he was still alive. The Phantom Tollbooth was quite possibly my favorite childhood novel; I read the covers off two copies.
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posted by Faint of Butt at 12:24 PM on March 9, 2021 [8 favorites]
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posted by Faint of Butt at 12:24 PM on March 9, 2021 [8 favorites]
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I have told my Norton Juster story on here before.
posted by gauche at 12:24 PM on March 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
I have told my Norton Juster story on here before.
posted by gauche at 12:24 PM on March 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
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Such a huge influence on me falling in love with reading at a young age.
posted by HumanComplex at 12:26 PM on March 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
Such a huge influence on me falling in love with reading at a young age.
posted by HumanComplex at 12:26 PM on March 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
I still reread Phantom Tollbooth to this day. I also really loved the movie. One of my defining books as a kid.
posted by PussKillian at 12:30 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by PussKillian at 12:30 PM on March 9, 2021
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This is one of the few books I have a distinct memory of reading in Braille as a kid. It was delightful.
posted by Alensin at 12:35 PM on March 9, 2021
This is one of the few books I have a distinct memory of reading in Braille as a kid. It was delightful.
posted by Alensin at 12:35 PM on March 9, 2021
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My 8-year old son Milo is out there looking for the Kingdom of Wisdom every day. There's no more I could wish for him than that.
posted by shirobara at 12:42 PM on March 9, 2021 [9 favorites]
My 8-year old son Milo is out there looking for the Kingdom of Wisdom every day. There's no more I could wish for him than that.
posted by shirobara at 12:42 PM on March 9, 2021 [9 favorites]
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I remember hearing that Juster disliked it, but I have fond memories of The Phantom Tollbooth cartoon as well as the book.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:45 PM on March 9, 2021
I remember hearing that Juster disliked it, but I have fond memories of The Phantom Tollbooth cartoon as well as the book.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:45 PM on March 9, 2021
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posted by skyscraper at 12:47 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by skyscraper at 12:47 PM on March 9, 2021
The Phantom Tollbooth is one of the rare children's books that is possibly even better when read as an adult. There were so many jokes and asides that I didn't get when I was younger.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 12:59 PM on March 9, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 12:59 PM on March 9, 2021 [8 favorites]
The Phantom Tollbooth is one of the rare children's books that is possibly even better when read as an adult. There were so many jokes and asides that I didn't get when I was younger.I was just in the process of composing a response to make this point when I decided to refresh to see new replies, but basically I couldn't agree more.
As a child I thought it was an enjoyable story. As an adult I appreciate it so much more. Which is fitting because isn't that, after all, the fundamental theme of the book? That we should not take the things around us for granted but should stir ourselves to appreciate them more?
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:04 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
This was one of my favourite books as a kid. It just charmed and delighted me because I loved word play and language so much. It sounds like I should re-read it now that I am an adult.
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posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:09 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:09 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
I just read it to my son last year. I had no idea Norton Juster was still alive and had just been assuming that was not the case because I remembered the book from my childhood and it was old then.
Sad news, but you can't deny he's had an impact. The Terrible Trivium still lives rent-free in my head.
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posted by Scattercat at 1:18 PM on March 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
Sad news, but you can't deny he's had an impact. The Terrible Trivium still lives rent-free in my head.
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posted by Scattercat at 1:18 PM on March 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
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posted by LobsterMitten at 1:18 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:18 PM on March 9, 2021
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posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 1:37 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 1:37 PM on March 9, 2021
Truly one of the greatest books for children or anyone has has ever been a child.
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posted by GuyZero at 1:40 PM on March 9, 2021
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posted by GuyZero at 1:40 PM on March 9, 2021
Like so many magical books, we thought it was fantasy, but it was prescient warning. We really have lost Rhyme and Reason and need their return, too many people think Digitopolis has all the answers, and I'm pretty sure we got stuck in the Doldrums by not thinking.
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posted by mark k at 1:41 PM on March 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
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posted by mark k at 1:41 PM on March 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
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I met Norton Juster at a literary event in New London, CT, about 20 years ago, and he signed my copies of Phantom Tollbooth and The Dot and the Line. He was small and round and bespectacled and seemed shy and bemused that I (and many others) were excited about meeting him, and that felt absolutely right.
posted by dlugoczaj at 1:41 PM on March 9, 2021 [6 favorites]
I met Norton Juster at a literary event in New London, CT, about 20 years ago, and he signed my copies of Phantom Tollbooth and The Dot and the Line. He was small and round and bespectacled and seemed shy and bemused that I (and many others) were excited about meeting him, and that felt absolutely right.
posted by dlugoczaj at 1:41 PM on March 9, 2021 [6 favorites]
Phantom Tollbooth is right up there with the favorite books I've read to my son. You could see his eyes light up trying to process the silly logic.
posted by whuppy at 1:53 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by whuppy at 1:53 PM on March 9, 2021
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posted by The AhForgetIt Tendency at 1:54 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by The AhForgetIt Tendency at 1:54 PM on March 9, 2021
Shirobara: My 45-year old son Milo is out there looking for the Kingdom of Wisdom every day. Once the journey starts, it don't stop.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:55 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:55 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
“It has been a long trip," said Milo, climbing onto the couch where the princesses sat; "but we would have been here much sooner if I hadn't made so many mistakes. I'm afraid it's all my fault."
"You must never feel badly about making mistakes," explained Reason quietly, "as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.”
The Phantom Tollbooth
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posted by The Bellman at 1:58 PM on March 9, 2021 [14 favorites]
I loved the Phantom Tollbooth. It might have been one of the first books that gave me super weird dreams and nightmares, and it's a love letter to the deep weirdness of modern English and literature.
posted by loquacious at 2:00 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by loquacious at 2:00 PM on March 9, 2021
I read The Phantom Tollbooth as an adult because it was a favorite book of one of my girlfriends.
It kind of upset me because as I was reading it, it made everything seem like it was covered in a blurring integument of words which was flexible and soft but tougher than diamond and could never be removed -- or maybe even made out of compressed words altogether.
I got the same feeling from Terry Pratchett.
posted by jamjam at 2:06 PM on March 9, 2021
It kind of upset me because as I was reading it, it made everything seem like it was covered in a blurring integument of words which was flexible and soft but tougher than diamond and could never be removed -- or maybe even made out of compressed words altogether.
I got the same feeling from Terry Pratchett.
posted by jamjam at 2:06 PM on March 9, 2021
Was it here that I learned that Juster had synesthesia? That also seemed absolutely right.
posted by dlugoczaj at 2:18 PM on March 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by dlugoczaj at 2:18 PM on March 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
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The author of one of the foundational works of my childhood -- a book that illuminated for me the deep importance of bridging ways of seeing the world across disciplines, and shifting perspectives, and, and, and. Along with Square One TV, gave me so many memorable models for problem-solving. A huge classic.
posted by brainwane at 2:19 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
The author of one of the foundational works of my childhood -- a book that illuminated for me the deep importance of bridging ways of seeing the world across disciplines, and shifting perspectives, and, and, and. Along with Square One TV, gave me so many memorable models for problem-solving. A huge classic.
posted by brainwane at 2:19 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
I own The Phantom Tollbooth, of course, but even though I loved it as a child, I don't have a copy of The Dot and The Line. Off to remedy that right now.
posted by merriment at 2:32 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by merriment at 2:32 PM on March 9, 2021
This is one of the two books that anchor my fundamental feeling and philosophy about life (the other is The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder). I got a t-shirt of the cover at NYC comiccon several years ago, it's a favorite shirt, although I doubt he saw a penny from the purchase. Every interview with him that I've read struck me as a man who had bottled lightning and knew it, but was incredibly humble about doing so.
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posted by Hactar at 2:47 PM on March 9, 2021
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posted by Hactar at 2:47 PM on March 9, 2021
I remember the book from when good library books seemed magical just because they fell off the shelf into my hands at random. I remember it reinforcing the only things I'd learned about letters and numbers so far: yes, letters have colors & flavors and yes, infinity exists and it's terrifying. IIRC the character went back to his boring old life at the end and I didn't like that.
posted by Sterros at 3:57 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by Sterros at 3:57 PM on March 9, 2021
And I thought it was impossibly old when I read it--like 50 years old--so I'm surprised to hear the author was still with us until recently.
posted by Sterros at 3:58 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Sterros at 3:58 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by crazy_yeti at 4:28 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by crazy_yeti at 4:28 PM on March 9, 2021
I read and watched Phantom Tollbooth countless times when I was young. My daughter and her class started it today. I wonder if it was a coincidence. I’ll have to read it again when she’s done.
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posted by Bacon Bit at 4:34 PM on March 9, 2021
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posted by Bacon Bit at 4:34 PM on March 9, 2021
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The Phantom Tollbooth was book I was recommended and tried reading when I was in, I think, fourth grade, and couldn't get into it. Then, in high school, I saw it on my bookshelf and tried again, and holy crap it was so good. Like much great literature, you just have to be in a time and place to really appreciate it I guess (even if those times and places make you not the intended audience).
posted by General Malaise at 5:11 PM on March 9, 2021
The Phantom Tollbooth was book I was recommended and tried reading when I was in, I think, fourth grade, and couldn't get into it. Then, in high school, I saw it on my bookshelf and tried again, and holy crap it was so good. Like much great literature, you just have to be in a time and place to really appreciate it I guess (even if those times and places make you not the intended audience).
posted by General Malaise at 5:11 PM on March 9, 2021
And...I just bought a new/used copy.
posted by General Malaise at 5:15 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by General Malaise at 5:15 PM on March 9, 2021
There just aren't enough eloquent and ebullient words to adequately express my deep and abiding love for The Phantom Tollbooth and Norton Juster (and Jules Feiffer).
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posted by pjsky at 5:21 PM on March 9, 2021
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posted by pjsky at 5:21 PM on March 9, 2021
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In the A Colorful Symphony chapter of the annotated PT there's a note about Thomas wilfred's lumias, which my uncle collects. When there was an exhibit at Yale ( and later the Smithsonian American art museum) I contacted Leonard Marcus and the Eric Carle museum but idk if Juster ever went.
posted by brujita at 7:31 PM on March 9, 2021
In the A Colorful Symphony chapter of the annotated PT there's a note about Thomas wilfred's lumias, which my uncle collects. When there was an exhibit at Yale ( and later the Smithsonian American art museum) I contacted Leonard Marcus and the Eric Carle museum but idk if Juster ever went.
posted by brujita at 7:31 PM on March 9, 2021
Oh I loved the Phantom Tollbooth. I think it's why I like puns.
posted by batter_my_heart at 8:05 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by batter_my_heart at 8:05 PM on March 9, 2021
My fifth grade teacher was reading The Phantom Tollbooth to us a little bit at a time, as a reward for getting through some of the more tedious stuff in school. I am and was a fast reader, and I was loving it so much, but it was taking sooooo long to finish. We were getting close to finishing and then we hit a weekend, and my teacher could tell it was driving me crazy that I couldn't finish it when we were so close to the end, so she let me borrow the book for the weekend and finish it. My parents subsequently got me my own copy, which I still treasure.
posted by gudrun at 8:22 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by gudrun at 8:22 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by Mister Moofoo at 8:51 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by Mister Moofoo at 8:51 PM on March 9, 2021
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posted by oneironaut at 9:16 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by oneironaut at 9:16 PM on March 9, 2021
Like so many magical books, we thought it was fantasy, but it was prescient warning. We really have lost Rhyme and Reason and need their return, too many people think Digitopolis has all the answers, and I'm pretty sure we got stuck in the Doldrums by not thinking.For that matter, can you imagine a better summation for many of our internet-amplified societal ills than "...you can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and still come out completely dry. Most people do"?
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:51 PM on March 9, 2021 [5 favorites]
When I first read it, I thought it was the cleverest, funniest thing ever. I still enjoyed it when I looked at it again a few years ago, but I thought: these are basically the Dad jokes you’d get if your Dad was a professor.
posted by Phanx at 2:15 AM on March 10, 2021
posted by Phanx at 2:15 AM on March 10, 2021
Ah, this is a tough one. Phantom Tollbooth was my first introduction to the lovely world of words, abstract and messy, as themselves.
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posted by pseudophile at 3:26 AM on March 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by pseudophile at 3:26 AM on March 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by dannyboybell at 5:47 AM on March 10, 2021
posted by dannyboybell at 5:47 AM on March 10, 2021
Me, reading "The Phantom Tollbooth" and coming across the written word "ogre" for the first time.
Me, to my parents: "What's an o-gree?"
My parents: (pause) "Do you mean an orgy?"
Me: "I guess."
My parents: (pause) "It's like a really wild party."
Me: (frowning) "No, that doesn't sound right."
Me, goes back to reading.
I don't know why that's stuck in my head after all this time.
Anyway, amazing book.
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posted by kyrademon at 6:07 AM on March 10, 2021 [10 favorites]
Me, to my parents: "What's an o-gree?"
My parents: (pause) "Do you mean an orgy?"
Me: "I guess."
My parents: (pause) "It's like a really wild party."
Me: (frowning) "No, that doesn't sound right."
Me, goes back to reading.
I don't know why that's stuck in my head after all this time.
Anyway, amazing book.
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posted by kyrademon at 6:07 AM on March 10, 2021 [10 favorites]
I met Norton Juster sometime around a decade or more ago at a Q&A he was doing for a local children's bookstore. I had done something for them that allowed me to sit in the front row. He needed a little help to get down from the stage after and I offered. We chatted for a few minutes. He was pleased that my copy of PT had been read so much that it was too old and fragile to be brought for signing.
posted by donpardo at 6:40 AM on March 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by donpardo at 6:40 AM on March 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
My 10-year-old Milo is ostensibly named after Miles Davis (I objected to Miles directly because Davis was a horrible human being; I wanted Theo or Leo or something like that; we compromised on Milo) but you and I know what he's *really* named for.
posted by Liesl at 7:40 AM on March 10, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Liesl at 7:40 AM on March 10, 2021 [2 favorites]
Many authors have clearly been inspired or influenced by The Phantom Tollbooth, but the closest thing I'm read to an homage to it is Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Salman Rushdie. Worth a look, if you haven't.
posted by Hogshead at 5:06 PM on March 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Hogshead at 5:06 PM on March 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
My MeFi handle is... yeah, it's obvious and I don't have to explain it.
It's a poorer world for losing Juster.
posted by humbug at 5:54 PM on March 10, 2021 [4 favorites]
It's a poorer world for losing Juster.
posted by humbug at 5:54 PM on March 10, 2021 [4 favorites]
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One of my favorite books of all time. I must go back and reread it soon.
posted by kathrynm at 6:04 PM on March 10, 2021
One of my favorite books of all time. I must go back and reread it soon.
posted by kathrynm at 6:04 PM on March 10, 2021
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Thank you Norton, for helping me grow up into the person that I am today. The Phantom Tollbooth was, without question, the most influential thing I read as a kid.
posted by schmod at 7:02 PM on March 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thank you Norton, for helping me grow up into the person that I am today. The Phantom Tollbooth was, without question, the most influential thing I read as a kid.
posted by schmod at 7:02 PM on March 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
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I tested out of a rudimentary grammar class in 6th grade and was placed in a small "advanced grammar" club, which was my teacher and 3 or 4 other kids. We just read The Phantom Tollbooth and made puns for a whole quarter of the school year. It was one of the best bits of my whole education.
posted by TheCoug at 7:16 PM on March 10, 2021 [2 favorites]
I tested out of a rudimentary grammar class in 6th grade and was placed in a small "advanced grammar" club, which was my teacher and 3 or 4 other kids. We just read The Phantom Tollbooth and made puns for a whole quarter of the school year. It was one of the best bits of my whole education.
posted by TheCoug at 7:16 PM on March 10, 2021 [2 favorites]
What I learned about jumping to conclusions cannot be untaught.
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posted by riverlife at 4:54 PM on March 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by riverlife at 4:54 PM on March 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
“Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn? Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? Or perhaps you know the silence when you haven't the answer to a question you've been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you're alone in the whole house? Each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful if you listen carefully.”
posted by oulipian at 8:25 PM on March 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by oulipian at 8:25 PM on March 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
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