Production Update: Stills from our shoot with Adam Gopnik

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Had an insightful and hilarious conversation with Adam Gopnik, staff writer at The New Yorker who wrote the great piece on The Phantom Tollbooth last fall, Broken Kingdom. An author of both adult and children's literature and a wonderful essayist, we talked of the lasting power of The Phantom Tollbooth, the art form of children's literature, the importance of Liberal Arts, and why Rhyme and Reason are sexy. [gallery order="DESC" columns="2"]

Production Update: Stills from our shoot with Jason Epstein

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We were thrilled to interview Jason Epstein who, in between publishing Vladimir Nabokov, Norman Mailer, Philip Roth and Jane Jacobs (among countless others) and starting the NY Review of Books, happened upon a little story by the unknown Norton Juster and published The Phantom Tollbooth in 1961.  Editorial Director at Random House for forty years, we heard his thoughts on the joy of a good story, how he never left college, and how the publishing industry is undergoing drastic change.  Oh yes, and why his dog Hamlet doesn't quite live up to his name. [gallery order="DESC"]

Thanks for writing - we love hearing from you!

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We love how something about this book and this project just makes people want to write and share their stories.  We got some great ones last week - from kids this time, very exciting!  Ahh, reading is sweet! Check them out... "I LOVE YOUR BOOK! In my class we are doing a play and I'm Tock. I think he's the best character in the WHOLE book. I wish i could draw just like Jules. You're my favorite author and illustrator!!!!"

"I LOVE the Phantom Tollbooth!!! I actually begged my dad to bring me to the library so i can read it and enjoy it!!"

Authors Dish on How They Arrange Their Libraries

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You can imagine a writer needs a big library from which to draw inspiration.  But how to keep them all organized? Writers divulge their library secrets in Unpack My Library: Writers and Their Books by Leah Price. Find The Phantom Tollbooth in Jonathan Lethem's library and see what Philip Pullman's got to say (he wrote one of the essays in the 50th Anniversary edition of The Phantom Tollbooth)

Read more...

Production Update: Stills from our shoot with Eric Carle

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We were thrilled to interview Eric Carle (author/illustrator of The Hungry Caterpillar and other beloved children's books) and his wife Bobbie - spending a lovely day with them talking about their 35 year long relationship with Norton and Jeanne Juster, their old dog named Tock, and their founding of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. [gallery]

A lovely comment from one of our backers

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One of our backers writes:"I read the book when I was 12 years old. My family had just moved to Memphis from Denver, and it was quite the cultural shock. We didn't stay long. I had a book on the early comic book heroes written by Jules Feiffer, and through that, I discovered "The Phantom Tollbooth." It brought some sense to the chaos of my life at the time, and I can't count the number of times I re-read it. I also recall reading it to a Wendy Carlos rendition of a selection from Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier," so the music and the book are now inextricably linked to each other. I'm certain my memories will be linked to this film as well, which I eagerly await!"