The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Milo is blasé attitude about life in general. But one day, upon coming home from school, he finds a mysterious package waiting for him. Inside is a tollbooth that ushers him into another world, a world of witches and monsters and princesses. But this world hinges on some of the very things that Milo finds utterly uninteresting: the importance of words and numbers.

Not long after Milo enters this new world, he is charged with a quest. He must rescued the princesses Rhyme and Reason from the Castle in the Air so that they can be restored to their rightful places and that the world will run smoothly again. He is helped along the way by two friends. Tock is a giant dog with a wind-up clock imbedde in his side. Humbug is a large well-dressed bug who is wrong about nearly everything. Of course, by the end of his quest, Milo learns how interesting seemingly simple aspects of life can be.

I did not like this book as much as I excepted I would. However, at times it is quite clever and original. It is Alice in Wonderland meets Lord of the Rings.