Norton Juster, architect who wrote the celebrated children’s book The Phantom Tollbooth – obituary
The Phantom Tollbooth was published in 1961 and has remained in print ever since, selling millions of copies
Norton Juster
Credit: Bill Greene/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Norton Juster, who has died aged 91, was an American author whose children’s book The Phantom Tollbooth was widely considered in the same breath as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
An architect by training, Juster dreamt up the absurdist world of the book as a way to relieve the tedium of working on another book that he had been commissioned to produce. The Phantom Tollbooth’s protagonist, Milo, is a bored and dispirited little boy with no interest in solving the “useless problems” put to him by schoolteachers.
Norton Juster, mischievous author of the children s classic The Phantom Tollbooth, dies at 91 bostonglobe.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bostonglobe.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Juster s classic book The Phantom Tollbooth tells the tale of a bored young boy, Milo, who is transported to a world of wonder when he drives through a magical tollbooth that has arrived without warning at his house. Photo: AP
Norton Juster, the celebrated children s author who fashioned a world of adventure and punning punditry in the million-selling classic
The Phantom Tollbooth and remained true to his wide-eyed self in such favourites as
The Dot And The Line and
Stark Naked, has died at 91.
Juster s death was confirmed on Tuesday by a spokesperson for Random House Children s Books, who did not immediately provide details. Juster s friend and fellow author Mo Willems tweeted on Tuesday that Juster ran out of stories” and died peacefully” the night before.
Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth author, dead at 91 suntimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from suntimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.