Production Update: Stills from our shoot with Martha Minow

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We visited Martha Minow at Harvard where she is the Dean of the Law school to talk to her about one of her all time favorite books - The Phantom Tollbooth.  We talked to her about the essay she wrote for the 50th Anniversary Edition, such as when she writes: "The rewards of laughter come with memorable cautions against the distractions of trivia: the recognition that a sense of humor can preserve purpose and proportion, and that even the smallest “but” can topple unjustified authority." [gallery order="DESC"]

Production Update: Stills from our shoot with Bill Harley

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We got the chance to spend the morning with Bill Harley - the rare adult who really understands kids and makes great songs and stories to prove it.[gallery columns="2"] Was wonderful to hear his insights into The Phantom Tollbooth which he read to his sons, as well as his thoughts on profound nonsense, such as his recitation of "one bright day inthe middle of the night two dead boys got up to fight, back to back they faced each other drew their swords and shot each other deaf policeman heard the noise, came and shot the two dead boys, if you don't believe this lie is true, go ask the blind man, he saw it too."

If you don't know him already, check out more of what he does at www.billharley.com

Review of Kate Feiffer's new children's book with Jules' illustrations

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Kate Feiffer, who last collaborated with her father on My Side of the Car, has written the perfect go-to book for the go-to-sleep impaired. With its lulling tone and gentle, comic cajoling, it has nightly must-read written all over it. Jules Feiffer’s legendary ink lines beautifully capture a nascent human in all his lumpy discontent.

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Interview with Norton Juster from The AV Club Staff

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"In the early ’60s, Norton Juster used his Navy allowance to rent a small basement apartment in pre-residential Brooklyn Heights, in a building that also happened to house cartoonist/screenwriter Jules Feiffer. The book that came out of their playful collaboration,The Phantom Tollbooth, has never been out of print since 1961, and is often considered the American Alice In Wonderland." READ MORE...

Geek Dad on WIRED reviews 50th Anniversary Edition

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This year, the celebrated children’s book The Phantom Tollbooth turned 50. It’s a fantastic story about a boy named Milo “who didn’t know what to do with himself — not just sometimes, but always.” It’s a book about being bored and uninterested, and discovering a whole new way of looking at, well, just about everything. Five decades later, the book still rings true — perhaps even more than ever, as our kids are constantly bombarded with the next new thing in the hopes of staving off boredom.

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Kickstarter Rewards in the mail!

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Packing Posting Party

Well, not a party per se.  BUT, lots of packing and posting and waiting in line, and labeling and writing and waiting in line, and snipping and taping and waiting in line (seems we weren't the only ones trying to send everything the week before the holidays!).

Almost all the rewards are in the mail and on their way to YOU.

Are you giving a Tock Doll for Christmas?  Are you putting the Certificate on your fridge?  Are you sending a greeting card out for a friend's birthday?  Whatever you do please share your photos!  Send us photos, post a comment - either on our BLOG or FACEBOOK or TWITTER (@TollboothDoc).  We want to see them!

Tock Dolls and Greeting Cards and Certificates should get there in time for the holidays. Books and Posters will arrive after the holidays. And Norton's puns will be sent in January as will the custom dolls. And of course DVDs and Film Downloads are not finished - but we'll get to work on that!

Thanks everyone - have lovely holidays!  Wishing you the best from Brooklyn and The Lands Beyond

- Hannah & The Crew