Meeting #1 Ilustrator

Today was our first official meeting with my group. We are reading the phantom tollbooth written by Norton Juster. I was the illustrator and I drew a map of how I imagined that the boy traveled with his toy car.  I picked to draw this picture because it was not included as an illustration in the book it was an important part to miss. 

Martin Travel Tracer-Phantom Tollbooth Meeting #1

Phantom Tollbooth
Blog post #1
Travel Tracer
                                                       
        The Phantom Tollbooth is a book that changes setting a lot. It starts in the bedroom of the main character and then moves into a whole different world. Then, Milo, the main character, moves through different kingdoms both in his fantasy and in reality.
Bedroom: (important setting, as initial incident occurred) 
        The initial incident of this book occurs in Milo's room. His messy room is on the eighth floor of an apartment building. In the boys room, there are books, tools, games and toys scattered all over the place. In my opinion, the author made Milo's room messy to emphasize how board he always is. The mess shows that Milo starts to play with something, and then gets board of it. Next, he tries to play with something else but abandons that too.
        In Milo's room, there was a strange surprise package. It was odd in shape and also in size. When the boy unpacks it and assembles it it becomes a tollbooth. When Milo drives into the tollbooth with his electric automobile, he is transferred into a different world. Pg. 11
Expectations: 
        When Milo passed through the tollbooth he appears in "Expectations." He found himself on an unknown country highway, and his house, bedroom and tollbooth were nowhere to be seen. In "Expectations" all the colors were very rich and bright, the flowers shone, and tall silvery trees lined the road. The sky was bright and the sun was shining. By the road was a sign with "Welcome to Expectations" written neatly on it. Behind the sign was a house from which a man came out off and told Milo that "Expectations" is the place where you had to go before you got anywhere else. Soon, Milo left towards his chosen destination, "Dictionopolis." Pg. 16, 17
Doldrums: (important setting, because this is where Milo met Tock)
        Before Milo gets to "Dictionopolis" he gets lost in the "Doldrums," the home of the Lethargarians.  The peaceful highway began to change as Milo began to enter the "Doldrums." The broad green valley began to get grayer, such as the sky and the countryside. Even the birds only sang gray songs. Everything there had the same monotonous tone. On the twisting and turning road the air became much heavier. Small, boring creatures live here and Milo only manages to get out off there when he meets Tock. Pg. 16, 17, 19, 20, 22
Dictionopolis: (important setting, for this is where Milo received his task)
        When Milo started to think again he got out of the "Doldrums" and went on towards "Dictionopolis" located in the Foothills of confusion. When Tock and Milo, the new duo, got near to the word growing city. they could see the cities towers and flags sparkling in the sun. The city was surrounded by a great wall. Inside this giant barricade was an immense square. It was covered by people, market stalls filled with merchendise and buildings painted in happy colors. Large wooden wheeled carts came from word orchards, along with caravans, sacks and boxes that came from far away lands. The air was filled with the sound of minstrels singing mixed with the sound of merchants trying to sell their goods. People were sorting the many different words into different cases. Everything looked great. This all changed when the Spelling Bee and the Humbug fought and knocked over all the stalls. This mixed up all the words, along with the way people spoke. Everything was being drowned in confusion. Luckily, people were able to correct everything quite soon. Pg. 34, 36, 38, 45, 47, 56
Jail: (important setting, because this is where Faintly Macabre tells here story)
        Officer Shrift blames the havoc on Milo and Tock and takes them to the dungeon. To get to the dungeon they took a long, dark corridor lit by few candles; then down a circular staircase where the air is damp and musty and the walls are slimy to the touch. The jail itself is a high vaulted cell with only two windows. There is a button on the door, which you press to get out. This is what the two heroes use to escape after Macabre's story. Pg. 63, 78
Faintly Macabre's story: (important setting, for this is where Milo learns of Rhyme and Reason)
       The which's (not witch's) story takes place in a land of barren and frightening wilderness on high rocky mountains. There was seldom any life there, and the life that was there was evil.This place was called the land of Null. This all changed when a prince sailed over and built a city there. The city got larger and bigger, got got so big that it began to be called the kingdom of Wisdom. But outside the walls it was still evil and twisted land. The two sons of the founder of the kingdom of Wisdom built their own cities too. Both their cities prospered. The kingdom of Wisdom was also in good hands. All problems and disputes were solved by Rhyme and Reason. It was a happy place. But when Rhyme and Reason were banished the kingdom of Wisdom fell into despair and the two other kingdoms began arguing, but still growing in power.
Royal Banquet: (important setting as that is where Milo gets his mission)
       The royal banquet took place in a book shaped palace. The walls inside the palace were covered in mirrors. The dining room itself was filled with people. There were carefully set cutlery along with gold plates. In the center was a thrown covered in crimson cloth. Behind it was the coat of arms. But when King Azaz begins his speech the room empties. All the people are seen again when they cheer Milo, Tock and the Humbug out of Dictionopolis. Pg 80-100.
Point of View: (important setting for that is where the action ended)
       The Point of View is where the three protagonists get to when the dense forest ends. From there you can see a rich, beautiful and green landscape.      

         The Phantom Tollbooth changes setting a lot, has descriptive details in certain parts whilst not in others.

Discussion director #1 Vishesh Sharma

Discussion Director:

I am the discussion director. Hi, my name is Vishesh and I led the discussion this time. I had 8 questions and they were:

What is your thought of the book so far, what was going through your mind when you read the assigned section?

According to me this book uses a lot of symbolism. The characters in the book are very interesting and all of them have their own special and interesting mannerisms and the way the author described the places was outstanding. I was wondering how the author combined such imaginative thoughts with real world context it was simply amazing. According to other members in my group the book started to get interesting later on, deep in a very strange way and it had good and hard words.

How would you describe Milo?

According to me A bored young man who launched into an exciting journey, with his pal Tock a watchdog and Humbug a beetle who cant spell anything.

Where is he going?

Milo first went to expectations then to Doldrums, the to Dictionpolis and now he is going to rescue the princesses named Rhyme and Reason.

How would you describe the little man introduced in chapter 2 and what is his mannerism?

He is small and repeats all he says several time and speaks fast. He is a peculiar
man. To Milo he was a very awkward man. He may be a little annoying, maybe too joyful, childish, lacks company, useless.

What do you think of Lethargarians (the creatures) in Doldrums and why is it so?

I think they are boring. This is because they live in Doldrums and that is the town of boredom where nothing exciting takes place and nothing
ever changes. They are not allowed to think and their schedule isn’t the most exciting one either.
According to other people these creatures are lazy, unaware, non - thinkers and small.

What is the conflict of the book?

The conflict of the book is the war between kingdoms and getting them back together using rhyme and reason princesses, this is an external
conflict that was caused by an internal conflict between the two kingdoms.

What may be resolution and why do you think this is it what may happen in the book, (predictions)?

The way I think of it is that they rescue Rhyme and Reason and settle peace into this symbolic world. Milo realizes that he is the chosen one
and he feels better about himself and from that moment on enjoys life.

Enough talk about them, but who are Rhyme and Reason?

They are princesses that answer all problems and help unite and bring peace to the “world”. adopted daughters of the king of wisdom and solve disputes, psychiatrists of kingdom of wisdom.

ok, hang on and read until the next blog post or update rather on what's new in Phantom tollbooth

Vocabulary enricher

Pg.1 Para.1- Nutty-It means silly or ridiculous.
Pg.1 Para.1- Didactic- Something instructive, someone inclined to teach or lecture.
Pg.1 Para.1- Dejectedly- It means disheartened; low- spirited.
Pg.13 Para.1- Earthographers- A person engaged in in production of maps.
Pg.16 Para.1- Tollbooth-An entrance to a toll road.
Pg. 23 Para.2- Doldrums- A state of inactivity.
Pg.24 Para.6- Ordinance- A rule or a law.
Pg. 26 Para.2- Daffodil- It is a bulbous plant
Pg. 38 Para. 7- Chorused- A group in which people sing in.
Pg. 40 Para. 2- Bosh- It is something absurd like foolish talking.
Pg. 40 Para. 3- Earl- A governor of one of the divisions of England.
pg. 50 Para. 8-  Misapprehension- It simply means misunderstanding.
Pg. 56 Para. 8- Infuriate- It is basically to make furious.

There were no additional words added by my group members.

Milo is a boy who sees no meaning to learning or to life. He always wishes for the opposite of what he has and when his wish comes true he wonders why he wished for it. Milo always is seeking adventure and excitement he dislikes learning because he see no use in learning English, Math, etc. It is on an ordinary day when Milo goes to his bedroom and finds a peculiar package. He opens the package and inside finds an unassembled turnpike tollbooth as well as a map, a rule book and a instruction manual. He assembles the tollbooth and jumps into his electric car, as he approaches the tollbooth he thinks of Dictionopolis as the instruction manual told him to think of a destination and he randomly chose Dictionopolis.

Milo speeds through the tollbooth and finds himself on a highway with his house in no line of sight. He is surprised to find out that the tollbooth actually worked.  When he arrives at the Expectations where he meets a little man with Obsessive–compulsive disorder named the Whether man. Milo goes on to find Dictionopolis; his mind begins to stray and stops paying attention to the road. He hears a voice coming from a distant, and Milo soon notices dozens of little men who have the ability to change colors and blended into the objects.  These little men are called Lethargies who live in Doldrums a land where nothing ever happens and nothing ever changes, everything is monotonous. Abruptly a dog with a clock for a body runs in. The watchdog’s missions is to make sure that nobody in Doldrums wastes time. The watchdog explains to Milo that to leave Doldrums he must do the opposite of  brought him here in the first place, which was not thinking. Milo started to think and concentrate his electric car began to move and was off on his way with the Watchdog to Dictionopolis.

As Milo and the Watchdog make their way to Dictionopolis; the watchdog introduces himself as Tock. Tock begins a speech about the importance of time. Once inside Dictionopolis they see a market full of merchants selling words and letters as if they were fruits. They meet five cabinets who always repeat each other’s replies in synonyms. They explain the reason for the market in a dizzyingly, mind-boggling complex way leaving Milo confused.

Milo and his companion take a walk through the marketplace exploring the words the merchants were selling; words they never heard of. Milo meets a shopkeeper who discuss with him the construction of word, and suddenly a giant bee swarms in. The spelling bee tells Milo that he is capable of spelling any word. After throwing a bunch of words at the bee to spell, an insect approaches, this insect was a beetle. They get into an argument. The beetle and the bee begin to fight; the beetle swings his cane catching the bee’s leg which toppled a stool which knocked another stool and so on causing the whole market place to collapse. Having caused discord in the marketplace Milo is approached by Officer shift and is sentenced to 6 million years in jail. He is then taken to jail where he has been told there is a which. Not a witch you might be thinking of, but a person named which. When Milo and Tock are thrown into to jail they meet Which who tells them the story of how see once decided which words to say and which words no to use; she told them how she became corrupted and began to give people less and less words to use. The king was infuriated to he threw her in jail.