Kathryn Jablokow

I first read The Phantom Tollbooth when I was 10 years old, and it remains my favorite book about intellectual discovery today. I still have my original copy on my bookshelf, now scruffy and dog-eared from many years of use. The story is a brilliant parable about the adventures of learning, the perils of apathy, the importance of teamwork, and the obligation to do what is good and right, even when the odds are against you. Riddled with puns that make me laugh and characters that occasionally remind me of colleagues (and myself), the story reminds me that behind the serious scholarly façade, we academics are really just children at heart, looking for the right balance between rhyme and reason. This annotated version adds fascinating background and interpretation to the original tale.