Re: Queen steals sound, but boy wins in the end

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Glenn P., <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>On 28-Nov-03 at 12:07pm -0800, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Looking for the title of a book from the 1970s, I think, in which a
> > wizard sends a boy on a dangerous but vital mission. Among the boys
> > adventures is one in which an evil queen has stolen sound. The boy
> > defeats the queen by stuffing words into a cannon, with which he
> > destroys her castle.
>
> > When the boy returns to the wizard victorious, the wizard tells him
> > his mission had been impossible, but since he was too young and
> > idealistic to realize that, he was the only person who had a chance
> > to win anyway.
>
>I never cease to find it fascinating how recognizeable books remain,
>even after memory has thoroughly mangled them. This is unmistakeably
>"The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster (you can get it on Amazon),
>but I also don't doubt that Mr. Juster would be rather amused by your
>rendition of it! It wasn't a Queen, it was only the Soundkeeper. And

I don't think it's all that mangled. The basic facts are all there.

>Milo (the boy) wasn't then on any particular mission -- that comes
>much later in the story. Otherwise you're not all that far wrong!   :)

Yes he was - he was on the way to rescue Rhyme and Reason and had been
for some time.
-- 
"I couldn't believe this was a book.  It didn't even give me a
headache."  -- Chris Crutcher on _To Kill a Mockingbird_
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