Picture Book Report

Who are you and what do you do?

Howdy, my name is Anthony Cudahy and I’m an illustration student in Brooklyn currently. I just returned North after a cross-country roadtrip that included lots of cave-wandering, UFO hotspot tourist-ing, and Mexican food eating. Other than making drawings, things I enjoy are running and listening to Bob Dylan.

Why did you pick the book you chose?

When I was a little kid, I struggled a lot with reading. I took to learning it at a much slower rate than all of my classmates. This turned around when I found The Phantom Tollbooth. I started reading it and didn’t stop to until I finished the book, whether it was on the bus or staying up late secretly. After that, I did the same with any book I could get my hands on. The Phantom Tollbooth made me an avid and sort of obsessive reader.

The book follows a bored boy named Milo on a journey to a world that is in disorder as the two opposing kingdoms, Dictionopolis and Digitopolis, have imprisoned the twins, Rhyme and Reason. Milo seeks to restore order by freeing them and encounters countless strange sights and characters along the way, becoming a very interested boy.

One of those characters is Alec Bings, who floats in the air as the members of his family grow downwards, starting at their fully grown height. He tells Milo that he too can float if he thinks of things as adults do, but as Milo begins to rise he decides that thinking like a kid isn’t so bad as it’s “not so far to fall.”

Also in the drawing are Milo’s two traveling companions. Tock is a watchdog who is constantly hounding others to stay on time and Humbug is a bee obsessed with spelling correctly.