More on The Phantom Tollbooth

Norton Juster writes from NPR Books about his "accidental masterpiece"--The Phantom Tollbooth:

Like most good things that have happened in my life, The Phantom Tollbooth came about because I was trying to avoid doing something else. It was 1958, and after three years in the Navy I returned to New York City to work as an architect. I had also received a grant to do a book on cities for children. I started with great energy and enthusiasm until I found myself waist-deep in stacks of 3-by-5 note cards, exhausted and dispirited. This is not what I wanted to do.

In order to stop thinking about cities, I had to start thinking about something else.

Also, there's a kickstarter project for a little documentary of the making of The Phantom Tollbooth. Check out the preview, below, and donate to it here.

Also, did you notice: all the fellows I talked about last week look alike in their old age.  Sendak, Carle, Tomie, Juster and Feiffer. Round faces, white beards.  Mostly they all have mischief in their eyes, except for Sendak, who just looks feisty.