Carle Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Phantom Tollbooth

Amherst, MA, November 7, 2011—The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is pleased to announce “Phantom Tollbooth Day,” in honor of the 50th anniversary of the publication of the classic children’s book, and the recent release of Carle trustee Leonard S. Marcus’ The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth, an insightful addition to the uproarious classic.  Both Norton Juster and Leonard Marcus will be here to discuss and sign their books The Carle will also have related activities in the art studio and a special storytime in the reading library featuring picture books by Juster, including The Odious Ogre (2010), his most recent collaboration Jules Feiffer, the illustrator of The Phantom Tollbooth. All are welcome and encouraged to attend this all-day event on November 20th, 2011.
 
This pun-filled day coincides with Growing Every Which Way But Up: The Children’s Book Art of Jules Feiffer, The Carle’s newest exhibition featuring the artwork of The Phantom Tollbooth’s multi-talented illustrator.  Leonard S. Marcus, the guest curator for the exhibition, said in an article he wrote for the fall edition of Fine Books and Collections Magazine, “Tracing the arc of Feiffer’s latest creative adventure has for me, as the Carle exhibition’s curator, been an exciting chance not only to share with museum-goers some of contemporary children’s literature’s most keenly irreverent graphics, but also to show that ‘kids’ book illustration can be just as poignant--and pert--as the many and varied other forms of narrative art that Feiffer has practiced so brilliantly over the years.”  The exhibition features artwork from Feiffer’s collaborations with Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth (1961), and the more recent picture book, The Odious Ogre (2010),  along with Feiffer’s own picture books, including Bark, George (1999), among many others.