Our Current Read Aloud - The Phantom Tollbooth

We are reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It is a modern day fairy tale about a bored boy named Milo who drives through a magic tollbooth to have adventures in a new and different world. While he is there, he learns many things.

"Whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever you're sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer."

Today we were inspired to draw maps of the place where the story takes place. We remembered that Digitopolis, where numbers are thought to be most important, was located in the north, by the Mountains of Ignorance (this led to a wonderful conversation about the difference between stupidity and ignorance). Dictionopolis, where words are thought to be the best is located in the south, by the Foothills of Confusion. We discussed the other places Milo has heard of in the story and then each student drew what they imagined a map of the locale to look like. I will have these maps hanging in the classroom by Friday, so please check them out at some point. They are turning out so nicely, and I think it will help the children imagine the story better as they listen to me read it.

Here are two completed ones:

Here is Sydney's map

This one is David's.