https://www.npr.org/2021/03/09/975214782/phantom-tollbooth-author-norton-juster-dies-at-91
The Phantom Tollbooth has been one of my favorite books for fifty years.
The following has sat in my "to be finished" folder for maybe fifteen of them...
[ttto "Castle on a Cloud" from "Les Miserables"]
There is a Castle in the Air,
Where Rhyme and Reason wait for me.
Till I arrive, locked there they'll be,
There in the Castle in the Air.
I have a room that's full of toys;
Still, here I sit, dejected boy.
Nothing I own seems worth a try --
Then an odd parcel meets my eye.
[ttto "Master of the House"]
Package in the house, strange in shape and size;
Can't imagine what I've done to earn this prize.
Cut and lift and fold, slots and tabs unite;
Soon a purple tollbooth stands before my sight.
In my small electric auto,
Through the tollbooth now I ride;
Suddenly I've left the room and now
I'm driving through the countryside.
Watchdog at my side, Humbug in the rear,
Through a topsy-turvy world my car I steer.
Kingdom full of words, valley void of sound,
Numbers going up until my legs run down.
Through the mountains to a castle,
Where princesses offer tea;
What a lot of things I've learned, but now
It's homeward bound again for me.
[ttto "Castle on a Cloud"]
I have a room that's full of toys;
Once there I sat, dejected boy.
Then a strange parcel caught my eye --
Now, everything seems worth a try.
--
Jeff
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