Extra Credit

Milo is always bored, not just sometimes but always bored. Nothing really interested him - least of all the things that should have. But one day when Milo returns home from school there is a large package waiting for him. The envelope on the package read ONE GENUINE TOLLPIKE TOLLBOOTH. It was easily assembled and came ready with one car for traveling and a token for his return. A map was also included but Milo had never heard of any of the places. Dictionopolis? Digitopolis? The Sea of Knowledge? Oh well, he closed his eyes and pointed to a spot on the map. Dictionopolis it would be then. He approached the tollbooth in the car and soon found himself driving along an unfamiliar highway. His first stop was in the Land of Expectations, for Expectations is always the place you must go before you go anywhere else. The little man there made no sense so Milo decided to try to find his way alone into Dictionopolis. As he drove along in the little car, he soon found himself daydreaming and paying less attention to the road until he came to a fork. He turned to the right, which looked oddly like the wrong way and found himself driving along mile after mile past a gray, colorless landscape and the car went slower and slower until it finally stopped and would not budge at all. He had found himself in the Doldrums, the place you go when you are not thinking. Nothing happens in the Doldrums, as a matter of fact the creatures there spend all day working very hard at doing nothing at all. It is a very lazy place and pleasant enough except for the watchdog, Tock.

Tock makes sure that no one wastes time and helps Milo get back on the road to Dictionopolis. It is market day in Dictionopolis. Get your "ifs, ands or buts here" and Hey-yaa, hey-yaa, nice ripe wheres and whens. Juicy, temping words for sale", roared the voices in the marketplace. Milo had never heard of buying words but he tried some free samples. Mmmm... the Cs are crisp and crunchy and the As are sweet and delicious, just like you would expect an A to taste. Tock and Milo explore the market place and meet the Spelling Bee and the Humbug, who cause a raucous, which upsets the markets place and lands Milo and Tock in prison for 6 million years.

In prison, the pair meet Faintly Macabre, the not-so-wicked Which. She had been the one who selected which words to use but her power got the best of her and she began to hoard words until no one could speak at all. The king had sent her to prison and she would stay there until the return of Rhyme and Reason. Rhyme and Reason were the two princesses of the Kingdom of Wisdom. When King Azaz of Dictionopolis and his brother the Mathematician of Digitopolis got into an argument about which was more important, letters or number, they went to Rhyme and Reason for an answer. The two princesses said that neither were more important than the other and the two kings were so angry that they sent the princesses to the Castle in the Air, located beyond the Mountains of Ignorance, which are guarded by demons.

Since Faintly Macabre stated that the policeman loved to put people in prison but did not care if they stayed there, Tock and Milo go off to get the king's permission to release Rhyme and Reason. King Azaz stated that if Milo could get his brother to agree that the girls should be released he could retreive them from the Castle in the Air. But since the two kings always disagree, the Mathematician was sure to say no. King Azaz appoints Milo, Tock and the Humbug as a party to venture out to return Rhyme and Reason.

The threesome embark on their quest that takes them into new lands and introduces them to new people. Upon reaching Digitopolis, the Mathematician states that he cannot agree with King Azaz as they always disagree. When Milo points out that the two have agreed on the fact that they both disagree, the Mathematician is stunned and agrees to the release of Rhyme and Reason. Now Milo, Tock and the Humbug must venture into the Mountains of Ignorance to fight the demons and return princesses Rhyme and Reason to their throne in the City of Wisdom. The three learn to battle the demons and rely on each other as friends. At the end of their journey, Milo finds he must return to his home and leave his new friends behind. The next day he returns home from school to find the tollbooth is gone but he realizes that his books and his imagination can take him anywhere he wants to go.

This fantasy novel introduces the reader to Milo, one bored little boy, and an array of strange and magical creatures that live in the lands beyond the tollbooth. The clever use of common sayings is the delight of this story as characters actually eat their words or fall into the Doldrums. The setting is in the make believe world of the Kingdom of Wisdom and it is repeatedly described by the characters' dialogue and action. The theme of the book focuses on how the use or misuse of one's mind can take you into places like Wisdom or Ignorance. The story is appealing on two levels in that it contains both the unique usage of words and sayings in the English language while still creating a credible story. This is a fun book that will have the reader chuckling again and again.