DISCUSSION DIRECTOR- THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH! MEETING #1

Author: Norton Juster
Job: Discussion Director
Number of pages read so far: 71/256

Well, now we started our new book called: "The Phantom Tollbooth", by a man named Norton Juster. Our copies are 35th anniversary ones, so they are a little bit different than the other covers. My first job, was to be the discussion director. The role of the discussion director is to give 5 questions that the whole group will answer, and then we discuss the questions. The role of the director is also to manage the talking in the group, and organizing our discussion, in all, a very interesting role to have. Here are the 5 questions I made for today's discussion:

1. When is this book happening?
My answer: I think it is happening somewhere in more recent times, because of the technology level of things.
Others answers: Robert said 1995, and we all agreed that the time period is somewhere in the mid-90's, or the half of the 90's.
2. How old is Milo?
My answer: I think he is around 9-10 years old. This is because he still plays with some toys, but they are more advanced toys, such as remote controlled cars, or similar.Others answers: We where a little bit different when it comes down to this question. Kai said 11 years old, and Shai-Lee said a little bit younger than this. After, we all agreed that he was around that age, ranging from 7+.
3.Where does Milo live in?
My answer: I think he lives in a more developed country, due to the technological level of things around him. He seems to be relatively wealthy, due to the amount of toys he has, so we can immediately assume that he is in a developed country. More precisely, he lives in an apartment in a building. Others answers: Kai said that Milo lived in England, which we could assume to be a logical answer. Shai-Lee and Roert stayed without an answer in this problem.
4. Why did Norton Juster write this book?
My answer: I think he wrote it to simply earn money, because he had a good inspiration for something that could bring a lot of profit, which it did. Others answers: My group heavily disagreed on my statement, and everybody said that it was simply to entertain children, or similar.  
5. How do you rate this book from 1-10?
My answer: Well, I personally give it a descent 8/10. This is because at certain points, the book is very confusing, such as the market confusion part. The plot on the other hand is great, along with the theme! Life is much more fun than you think!Others answer: Well, we all agreed on the 8/10 grade. Kai agreed with me mainly, and Robert gave it a 9/10.

OTHERS ROLES:
1. KAI- WORD ENRICHER
2. SHAI-LEE- CONNECTOR
3 ROBERT-ILLUSTRATOR

If I were to grade my peers work from 1 to 10, I think they deserve a very good 9/10. I think that the best of them all was Shai- Lee's interesting connections. Kai's words weere very unique, and Roberts illustration very precise, both visually and in the book!
NL 

The Phantom Tollbooth- Picture Guy

Hey, My name is Kaan and my job this week was the picture guy. The title of the book was the Phantom Tollbooth I read about 27 pages. For my Job i had to draw a picture(s). I think this was the easiest job of all of them.
Sorry guys, I didn't have much to write

Meeting 1- Discussion Director

Ivana Lalic 6B

Discussion Director

Phantom Tollbooth

#58

1. Who is Milo and what envelope did he find?

Milo is just an ordinary boy, who doesn't know what to do with himself. When he's out he wishes to be in, when he is in he wishes to be outside. Nothing really interested him, and he is very bored. He is the main character of The Phantom Tollbooth and one day he finds a huge envelope, and just that envelope leads him to an exciting adventure!He found the huge envelope in his room sitting next to his phonograph. It said "FOR MILO WHO HAS PLENTY OF TIME". You can't imagine how excited Milo was, finally something to do!It simply said to assemble and put together the tollbooth; with it came a map, book of rules, three precautionary signs, and assorted coins used for paying tools. Then Milo put together the tollbooth and went in  it, he found himself in a little car and MAGIC HAPPENED HE WAS IN A TOTALLY DIFFERENT WORLD!!!!

2.What are the Doldrums?

The Doldrums is a place which Milo first visits in the lands beyond. The Doldrums are a place, were everyone is sleepy, tired, relaxed and everything is boring there! NO ONE is allowed to think there! Milo was in his little car,  he was not thinking at all, he was just driving and the car was moving by itself, Milo was hardly touching it. A big sign said "GO RIGHT" but Milo went left! And that's how he ended up in the Doldrums. There are little creatures in the Doldrums that are called the Lethargarians who don't do anything and according to their strict schedule they have time for nothing. Eat, sleep, day dream, etc... They explained to Milo all of the rules,  each one said a sentence and then fell asleep, and then the other continued everything is so boring their!   

3.Who are Tick and Tock

When Milo goes in the Doldrums he also meets a watch dog, Tock. He has a big clock on his tummy and big ears. Milo fell in love with Tock's different personality and the two of them  continued their adventure together going to Dictionopolis!  Tick is Tock's older brother that is in Tock's old hometown. 

4.What's Tock's tragic story?

Tock tragic story is....Long, long ago when my brother was born my parents named him tick, and were sure he was going to make the ticktickticktick sound.But to their surprise he made the tock sign.They were determine to go to the hall of records and change his name but it was to late, and his name stayed tick. Then when my parents had me they did not want to make the same mistake and it would be logical for all of their children to make the same sound, so they thought that tock was gonna make a tock sound.But to their surprise I made the ticktickticktick sound, but it was already too late to change my name.My parents didn't want any more kids because of this tragic story and now me and my brother both have the wrong names. 

That is the tragic story that Tock told, Milo

  

5. Who did Milo first meet on his trip?

On Milo's trip he first met, the weather man. He is a rather short fellow who  has a weird beard, outfit and he carry's around balloons. The weather man can tell weather if there is going to be weather. The weather man is very unusual and he even asked Milo is it was going to rain? Milo said  shouldn't you know that, you are the whether man? But then the whether man said well, I only now if there is going to be whether. And then he through his balloons in the air and said that he has to see which way the wind is blowing and he went! 

Meeting 1- Summarizer (Gemma)

Gemma :)

Super Summarizer

Phantom Tollbooth 

#58 pages

The Phantom Tollbooth starts with a boy named Milo, and a mysterious package. 

Milo, on one hand, is the word indecisive personified. He never knows what he wants. When he is doing one thing, he wants to be doing something else, but when he is actually doing what he wanted, he decides he never wanted to do it in the first place. He never has anything good to do.

Then, on the other hand,  the mysterious package,  was mailed to him one day after coming home from school. It was labeled being 'One Genuine Turnpike Tollbooth'. 

Since Milo has nothing better to do, he follows the instructions and sets it up, and then takes a map, gets in his own toy car.. then inserts the coin... and hes off

At the beginning of his adventure, he meets the whether man. No the weather man, but the man who will tell you whether there will be weather of what the weather will be like. The whether man welcomes Milo to expectations, and Milo goes on his way. 

Milo continues on this way, not thinking, and accidentally ending up in the Doldrums, the place where you end up when you dont think. The only thing you can do there is nothing. There he meets Tock, a watchdog that goes Tick, who gives him his advice on how to escape

To escape, Milo has to think his way out, doing the opposite of how he got there. Then he goes on, trying to reach a destination that he found on the map, Dictionopolis. He finally reaches it, along with Tock. It is on Saturday, where there is a word sale going on, where you can buy words for use. It seems like an interesting place, and Milo even gets to see two literate and articulate bugs get into a fight. It was all rather strange. 

Meeting #1 Vocabulery Enricher

Djordje Keserovic
Vocabulery Enricher
Phantom Toll Booth
57/256

Page	Word	Definition
11	anxious	full of mental distress of fear or danger
11	dejectely	depressed in spirits
11	glumly	sullenly or silenting gloomy
12	genuine	possesing the claimed or attrubuting charcter
12	precautionary	a measure taken in advance to alert possible evil
13	depiction	to present by
12	toll booth	a booth
20	pecuilar	strange
27	procrasting	to defer action
30	apologetically	continueing an apology

Meeting #1 Illustrator

Robert Duff
Illustrator
The Phantom Tollbooth
70 Pages

Meeting #1

Shai-lee Shay
Job - Connector
Book - The Phantom Tollbooth
Author - Norton Juster
70 Pages Read

My first job was the connector. I had to make connections between the book and real life. One of the Passages that i chose was on page 26. " And most of the time you don't," said a yellow one sitting in a daffodil. "That's why you're here. You weren't thinking, and you weren't paying attention either. People who don't pay attention often get stuck in the Doldrums."
I feel that this paragraph connects with us, because sometimes, us humans, also get really bored, and we don't pay attention, or think. It is just like my little brother. When he watches T.V, he blocks the outside world, and does not listen to anything we say, and he also does not think about anything, it is just like he goes to his own little world, all alone.

My second paragraph was on page 54. "A very pretty speech -s-p-e-e-c-h," sneered the bee. "Now why don't you go away? I was just advising the lad of the importance of the proper spelling.
Today in the real world, we have these spelling competitions called spelling bees, only they are not related  to bees that can spell. This is a competition were a certain person says a difficult word to spell, and then each competitor in his turn, gets a chance to spell those words out, and to get a special prize. Sometimes it can be money, and sometimes something else, like a trophy.