The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

I know this book is a classic, written for kids. But I'd never read it before, and was looking for a 'portal fantasy' to sharpen my familiarity with the genre. This book tells the story of Milo, a young boy who is bored with everything. He arrives home one day to find a package, just for him. It's a tollbooth, which he drives through in his little boy car.

Through the tollbooth, he finds himself in a magical world in which every abstraction is a reality. He has to put logic back into this world by restoring the rule of Rhyme and Reason, or somethinglike that. Honestly, I thought this book was super boring, with a lot of words that don't mean much aside from an allegory for Don't Be Bored.

Maybe if I was a little kid, the imaginings of this piece would have had more of an impact for me, but I already had an imagination. I was already interested in learning about things, and doing things. So it may have put into words some of the things that were already in my childish heart. As an adult, it felt like the ramblings of a punisher.