'Tollbooth' Author At Agnes Scott

Norton Juster, author of "The Phantom Tollbooth," spoke Friday night at Presser Hall at Agnes Scott as part of the citywide reading project, On The Same Page.

Juster has been getting a lot of attention lately. This is the 50th anniversary of the publication of his book, considered a children's classic.

organized with support from the and the Decatur Rotary Club.

The Rotary Club sent this photo of Juster and Leonard Marcus, author of "The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth." Marcus interviewed Juster on stage.

Here's part of the press release the Rotary Club sent.

The Decatur Rotary Club will celebrate its 75th Anniversary next year and has had a long-standing tradition of supporting local literacy projects. In collaboration with the Decatur Education Foundation and the Little Shop of Stories, the Club sponsored a citywide reading project during the fall titled, “On the Same Page.”

The project kicked off Labor Day weekend at the annual Decatur Book Festival and quickly caught the imagination of students in the Decatur School System.

“This is the largest single effort our Club has ever undertaken in the area of promoting literacy and encouraging elementary students to love reading. We have not only provided a major financial investment in the project but our members have enjoyed the hands on volunteer component of the project as well,” said Jason Conn, President of the Decatur Rotary Club.

The book for the inaugural "On the Same Page" project was, “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the book’s publication. The project culminated last evening before an enthusiastic crowd in Presser Hall at Agnes Scott College.

Mr. Juster was interviewed by Leonard Marcus, an internationally acclaimed expert on children’s literature and the author of the recently released annotated version of The Phantom Tollbooth.  Mr. Juster spoke about how the book came to be published and how he became an “accidental author.”  This is one accident we are all glad happened.