I promised I'd enact a reading revival and bring to you sincere books of all shapes and sizes for our college student reading list. Since then, we've been around the United States and the world: "Less Than Zero" (1985), "The Rules of Attraction" (1987), "The Last of the Savages" (1996), "Bright Lights, Big City" (1984) "Just Kids" (2010), "Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography" (2011), "A Little History of the World" (2005), "Shampoo Planet" (1992), "How I Became Hettie Jones" (1990), "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream" (1972), "Mythology" (1940), "Japanese Children's Favorite Stories" (1953) and "Play It As It Lays" (1970). In our last week, I say we start at the beginning.
Author: L. Frank Baum and Norton Juster
Title: "The Patchwork Girl of Oz" (1913) and "The Phantom Tollbooth" (1961)
Number of Pages: 352 in the 1995 HarperCollins edition and 272 in the 1988 Yearling edition
Whimsicality: Through the roof
When we were little, everything was magical. I found possibilities in a stop sign, made friends with inanimate objects and dreamt of climbing Mount Everest. But ever-eager to grow up, we all did and discovered limits, structures and responsibilities instead. I bet most miss their childhood.
Two of my favorite childhood books bring you to the Land of Oz, Dictionopolis and Digitopolis. "The Patchwork Girl of Oz" is the seventh story in the Land of Oz series, the first being the iconic "The Wonderful World of Oz" (1900) with Dorothy and her friends. This story centers on Ojo the Unlucky, a Munchkin who must create an antidote to the Liquid of Petrification, an unfortunate accompaniment of the Powder of Life. And in "The Phantom Tollbooth," a bored child, Milo — remember the luxury of being bored? — enters a magic tollbooth to save Princess Rhyme and Princess Reason among a world of idioms, puns and mathematical lingo.
Both these stories capture the essence of childhood, but in a way that an adult can appreciate. In fact, it's likely you'll get much more from "The Phantom Tollbooth" the second time around, once you can understand all its references. In addition, this week's authors were actually novelists by default. Baum tried his hand as a journalist, poultry breeder, shop-owner, actor and editor before he wrote 55 novels, 82 short stories and over 200 poems. Meanwhile, Juster has written nine fiction books and two non-fiction books but works as an architect. Though as children, we may dream of engaging countless professions that we can't possibly all take on, Baum and Juster prove that even as adults, your second — or sixth — profession might be your most fulfilling.
Yet, in books, you can still be anyone and anything. Reading can take you back, take you forward and take you anywhere. Books have never failed me. Even some bad ones are entertaining — here's to you, "Twilight" (2005) — and it's always inspiring to me that you can read the hard work of someone you've never met. Meanwhile, books can let you become an Everest climber, or, at least, can help you understand one. You can inhabit eras you missed or imaginary futures. Oz's novels spoke of the television, laptop computers and wireless telephones before such things existed. Books can also help you better understand yourself. Juster's second book, "The Dot and the Line" (1963), depicts the human behavior of opposites attracting. In essence, books allow us to engage in make-believe all over again.
Thanks so much for creating a book list with me this semester! I hope these works will make their way onto your own personal reading list. But, most of all, I hope every title makes you believe in the influence and power of words.
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Alexandria Chu is a junior who is majoring in English. She can be reached at Alexandria.Chu@tufts.edu.
