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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
This fanciful children’s heroes quest was a quite unusual story full of fun word play. I think my favorite was the half bakery where half-baked ideas come from.
What a fun, quirky read! This would make a great read-aloud.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
This is one of those books you can read a million times, and never understand every stunningly clever and subtle nuance of it. I know I still see new things every time I read it.
The premise is an undoubtedly strange and fantastic one; Milo, a boy essentially bored with his life, is surprised one day when a strange package containing a set-up tollbooth arrives in his room. Milo, having nothing better to do, sets it up and drives a toy car past it...and realizes he is no longer in his room.
Thus begins a journey built of metaphor, symbolism, and the ins and outs of human language, mathmatics, nature, and mind. Milo encounters all sorts of worlds; from the number capital of Digitopolis to the word capital of Dictionopolis, to the Doldrums where nothing much happens and the Valley of Sound where all noise is created. He will meet the watchdog Tock, the grumpy Humbug, and many other eccentric characters whose names, personalities, and ways of speaking are all carefully aligned with an allegory or a reference. And he will find himself on a quest to rescue two lost princesses, Rhyme and Reason. In a way, Norman Juster has to be some kind of creative genius to make it all work so perfectly. Sometimes the utter silliness of it makes enjoyment and suspension of disbelief a bit difficult, but then you just surrender to it. All in all, I think this should virtually be required reading; I know I sure learned a lot about language, numbers, and other concepts from this eccentric fantasy.
The premise is an undoubtedly strange and fantastic one; Milo, a boy essentially bored with his life, is surprised one day when a strange package containing a set-up tollbooth arrives in his room. Milo, having nothing better to do, sets it up and drives a toy car past it...and realizes he is no longer in his room.
Thus begins a journey built of metaphor, symbolism, and the ins and outs of human language, mathmatics, nature, and mind. Milo encounters all sorts of worlds; from the number capital of Digitopolis to the word capital of Dictionopolis, to the Doldrums where nothing much happens and the Valley of Sound where all noise is created. He will meet the watchdog Tock, the grumpy Humbug, and many other eccentric characters whose names, personalities, and ways of speaking are all carefully aligned with an allegory or a reference. And he will find himself on a quest to rescue two lost princesses, Rhyme and Reason. In a way, Norman Juster has to be some kind of creative genius to make it all work so perfectly. Sometimes the utter silliness of it makes enjoyment and suspension of disbelief a bit difficult, but then you just surrender to it. All in all, I think this should virtually be required reading; I know I sure learned a lot about language, numbers, and other concepts from this eccentric fantasy.
Prekrasna, topla, smijala sam se svakih 5 min na odlične i šaljive ideje...
Knjiga za zagrliti...
Knjiga za zagrliti...
Audiobook: 4h 41m
This book is a literary smoothie of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Neil Gaiman's Fortunately the Milk with the surprising zip of wisdom that you find in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. It delights in language and wordplay. Maybe I would have loved it as a child, but I have adored encountering it for the first time as an adult. What a gem.
This book is a literary smoothie of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Neil Gaiman's Fortunately the Milk with the surprising zip of wisdom that you find in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. It delights in language and wordplay. Maybe I would have loved it as a child, but I have adored encountering it for the first time as an adult. What a gem.
Full of imagination and witty wordplay. A great adventure. I also really enjoyed the annotated edition (I read it first and then went back and read the annotations.) They provide wonderful insights to Juster and Feiffer's lives and influences. I'm only sad that I didn't read this sooner!
I absolutely adored this whimsical book. It's definitely middle grade, and a clear "hero's journey" (saving princesses and all). However, the details that made the novel hilarious and fun were the endless puns and plays on words. It does seem at times that the author creates events just to make jokes about them, but I appreciate it completely.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated