Why The Phantom Tollbooth is a Gateway to Great Books and Great Ideas

     This past summer, among the various books we read on our own and reported to one another, my wife and I read a "children's book" neither of us had read before. Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth. Of course, we had both seen it before and we had people at different times recommend it, but we went on through the Tollbooth together and it was a most enjoyable and edifying experience.
     We both laughed out loud as we traveled with Milo and Tock and met King Azaz.  We traveled with the Mathemagician and other guides to strange but enchanting lands such as Dictionoplois and Digitopolis, the Valley of Sounds, the Forrest of Sights, and the quest to restore Rhyme and Reason with the ultimate goal of the establishment of the Kingdom of Wisdom. 
     There are many memorable moments and lots of great quotes, but my wife and I agreed that our favorite is a conversation between Canby, Milo, and Humbug. On the edge of the Sea of Knowledge, the reader reads,
     "Isn't there even a boat?" asked Milo, anxious to get on with his trip.
     "Oh, no, " replied Canby, shaking his head. "The only way back is to swim, and that's a very long and a very hard way."
     "I don't like to get wet," moaned the unhappy bug, and he shuddered at the thought.
     "Neither do they, " said Canby sadly. "That's what keeps them here. But I wouldn't worry too much about it, for you can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and still come out completely day. Most people do."
     If one thought long and seriously about potential for learning in class or in life, the stark truth is that most people do swim in the sea of knowledge and leave the sea as dry as if they had never jumped in for a swim. Related to this truth is the reality that many swim for too long in the shallow end of the sea of knowledge, by staying close to the shore and not wading out out to the deeper waters.
     I have only one reservation with this work, and it is mild because I may be wrong, but there is a reference to The Terrible Trivium that is less than favorable. If indeed, Norton Juster is referring to "the trivium," which is central to Classical education, then he is simply, but terribly illformed. If he is merely using "trivium" as a synonym for trivial, then I apologize and retract my only mild reservation about this work.