My, my, my, my, my, welcome, welcome, welcome, to the land of Expectations, to the land of Expectations, to the land of Expectations. We don’t get many travelers these days; we certainly don’t get many travelers these days. Now what can I do for you? I’m the Whether Man.
Is this the road to Dictionopolis? asked Milo, a little bowled over by the effusive greeting.
Well now, well now, well now, he began again, I don’t know of any wrong road to Dictionopolis, so if this road goes to Dictionopolis at all it must be the right road, and if it doesn’t it must be the right road to somewhere else, because there are no wrong roads to anywhere. Do you think it will rain?
I thought you were the Weather Man, said Milo, very confused.
Oh no, said the little man. I’m the Whether Man, not the Weather Man, for after all it’s more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be. And with that he released a dozen balloons that sailed off into the sky. Must see which way the wind is blowing, he said, chuckling over his little joke and watching them disappear in all directions.
What kind of place is Expectations? inquired Milo, unable to see the humor and feeling very doubtful of the little man’s sanity.
Good question, good question, he explained. Expectations is the place you must always go to before you get to where you’re going. Of course some people never go beyond Expectations, but my job is to hurry them along whether they like it or not.
The preceding excerpts are from The Phantom Tollbooth, written by Norton Juster. Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, writes on the front cover of my copy: Whisks you away on a wondrous, witty adventure- and reminds you just how magical a book can be. I certainly agree with his sentiment.
Norton Juster published this story in 1961. It was and is targeted for an 8 to 12 year old audience. I have to confess even though I was 12 years old in 1961, his wonderful story, The Phantom Tollbooth, never fell from our bookmobile shelf while making its weekly round during my preteen summers in the Berkshires. So, here I am reading it for the first time at the ripe post-teen age of 74! And I am loving it!
This story is labeled as a fantasy adventure novel for children. The main character Milo is a 10 year old boy who is bored. The first sentence of Chapter 1 highlights this point: There once was a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself-not just sometimes but always. At the end of this paragraph the author really clears up any confusion about Milo’s state of mind with the following; Nothing really interested him -least of all the things that should have.
One day after returning home from school, Milo found a large package with an envelope attached. It was a large turnpike tollbooth. Along with directions on assembly it explained FOR USE BY THOSE WHO HAD NEVER TRAVELED IN LANDS BEYOND. Included with the tollbooth were safety signs, coins to pay the tolls, a map, and a book of rules and traffic regulations.
After following the instructions and with the tollbooth assembly finished, Milo unfolded the map and tried to make sense of what he saw. It was a beautiful map to be sure, but he really had never heard of the destinations and felt that this wasn’t about a real country. In any case he deposited a coin from his toy car drove through and began his fantastical journey to a city designated Dictionopolis. First he had to drive through a place named Expectations. His destination was beyond Expectations where he met the Whether Man. I introduced the Whether Man in the excerpt above.
Juster’s novel The Phantom Tollbooth introduces Milo and the reader to fantastical characters who live in a land where words, letters, numbers, sounds and colors are their clothes and food for discourse and dessert. To a bored preteen traveling and communicating with colorful characters who relish alliterations, metaphors, and creative clarity sprouting from apparent confusion, it is definitely a cure for lethargic boredom.
Milo’s adventures are in a land where the mountains are called Ignorance, (demons live there), foothills of confusion, a valley of sound next to a forest of sight, areas of doldrums, to a Sea of Knowledge going by an island of conclusions. Two main cities exist, Milo’s first target of travel Dictionopolis and located across the land a metropolis named Digitopolis. Milo learns that Dictionopolis lives on letters and words while Digitopolis lives on numbers. There are two princesses in this kingdom that have been taken to the mountains against their will. A King tasks Milo and his trusty companions, a humbug and a watchdog named Tock, to rescue and bring back the pair. Their names are Rhyme and Reason. ( Of course they are!)
Today’s question. Is boredom still an affliction of our preteens? Surrounded with new technology, social media availability, and parents who are predisposed to race with their son’s and daughter’s fulfilling after school schedules of music, sports, dance and more, when do 10 year olds have a moment to relax never mind be bored? I believe with all that, boredom can still visit a child’s bedroom as it visited mine and Milo’s during our preteen years sixty years ago.
Milo’s adventure is born from Norton Juster’s creative imagination. I remember my cousins’, friends’ and my own main ingredient to alleviate boredom was imagination. I have to be careful and not let my judgement fertilize my ignorance. One of our granddaughter’s helped me see through my generational fog. Recently she showed me, ( as busy as she is with every thing and more listed above), she still finds the time to be creative and follow her passion for reading. and creating art. I find joy in holding the book I travel with each month. At supper our granddaughter shared the story of a novel she had just finished reading with me and her grandmother. Her verbal book report was more passionate and elegantly stated than I could ever muster up here with the written words of this blog, I excitedly asked her where did she find the book? Pop, she retorted, I read it on my Chrome Book. I mostly read my stories off the computer. Wow, I have to get used to the fact that a book in my hand may be rarer than a library of book shelves, newspaper print on my finger, and a letter written in ink! She finished supper with a freehand drawing from imagery conjured up from our smart phone. Again her generation has a neighborhood of technological resources to enhance their young imagination.
This month as I reflect by the sea next to my metaphorical lighthouse, I humbly accept change in the neighborhood I live in. Books can be held, touched, and even olfactorily sensed while reading the well crafted sentence by the light of my bed side lamp. And my seventy year plus book reading journey has been propelled by the touch of that published paper, but now I must accept the fact that to be judgemental about how I should read a book or a news article is hypocritical on my part. Why this conclusion? As I type this, my computer is my pen, the internet is my book store and I am in the process of letting my children and grandchildren enlighten me on using Kindle to publish some of my recent stories. Reading Luster’s remarkable children’s story, The Phantom Booth opened my memory door to my love affair with children fantasy stories like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Velveteen Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and The Hobbit. There are so many more in the world’s libraries that could be added to my list!
Before I leave here to drive with my mind’s eye home on the Mass Pike, (now tollbooth-less), allow me to share with you my new point of view. What you read or even how you read it is not the point, it is only important that you read!
Thank you for reading.
Be in peace and joy!
Mark