The Shortest Giant in the World

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster is a childhood favorite of my dear Hubbins.  I too really enjoy this little gem that takes you through the city of Dictionopolis,  through the Forest of Sight,  into the Doldrums, up

the Mountains of Ignorance, and the Island of Conclusions is just a jump away. This book has been a favorite of many a child (and adult) throughout the years, it is witty, clever, and the imagary is outstanding.  I paticularly like how it opens with our boy hero Milo in a slump.  There are so many things to learn, but nobody has bothered to explain why he must learn them, or the purpose for thinking things through, so he never bothers, just plodding along through life.  I think this is very symptomatic of the world today, we send kids to school and tell them they need to learn and regurgitate information without giving them a reason why they should learn it, why they should think and puzzle through things.  This method makes learning all about memorization and spouting back meaningless facts, where true learning is when somebody wants (do we all love my use of italics today) to take the time to figure something out

 because it means something to them (thanks for putting up with my little philosophical rants).  Anyways back to the book.  Young Milo discovers a package containing a tollbooth and after setting it up and driving his little toy car through ends up on a magical quest culminating in the rescue of Rhyme and Reason.  Throughout this journy Milo is accompinied by Tock a literal watchdog :-).  Along the way they encouter a word market (I want to go so bad!), a spelling bee, a place were you literaly have to eat your words (I think all politicians and famous people should have to eat there) and my personal favorite a man who is all at once the smallest giant in the world, the tallest midget in the world, the thinnest fat man in the world and the fattest thin man in the world ( I on the other hand am the most undiscovered supermodel in the world).  My Hubbin

paticurlarly likes the Dodecahedron a very percise individual.  This is but a small sampling of the amazing wordplay that propels the plot of this wonderful book.  In the end Milo learns that knowledge and thinking are not boring or dull, but rather a means to make ones life better and happier.  He returns home to world full of possibilites better then when he left. This is another book I cannot wait to read with my nephews when they get a little older...poor kids are gonna be stuck with a zillion books from Auntie Super Bookworm Girl.

What is your favorite wordplay?  Which book do you still cherish from when you were a child?  Don't you think it is adorably hilariouse when little kids use big words?

Shout out to Charles Dickens who would be 200 today!

PS sorry for the crappy spelling, the spellcheck isn't working for some reason, and I really suck at spelling.