Help me find the Phantom Tollbooth

February 23, 2010 7:09 PM

BabysittersClub Filter: Which Baby-sitter's Club book involved a reference to a young girl being excited to read The Phantom Tollbooth?

I can hardly believe I'm using a question on this but here goes:
I'm trying to find a book in the Baby-sitter's Club series where one of the girls being babysat (her name may have been Charlotte) can't wait to get home because she's looking forward to reading The Phantom Tollbooth.

I'm certain that the book is in the regular Baby-sitter's Club series or a Super Special, not a Little Sister or Mystery book.

posted by thewestinggame to Writing & Language (16 answers total)

Slightly embarrassing that I know this, but Charlotte was her name and Stacey was her favorite sitter - so I would suggest focusing your search on all of "Stacey's" books.
posted by pintapicasso at 7:22 PM on February 23, 2010

I vaguely remember this being a Mallory book, but perhaps it was Stacey? They were the two most literary.
posted by k8t at 7:22 PM on February 23, 2010

I was going to say a Stacey book, too. *ashamed to know that*
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:23 PM on February 23, 2010

Stacey was my first thought too pintapicasso. I remember a blonde child with Stacey on the cover.
posted by k8t at 7:23 PM on February 23, 2010

And also, I vaguely remember Charlotte reading the Phantom Tollbooth and ignoring Stacey, and then asking Stacey if she would still babysit her if her parents couldn't pay her? But I may be mixing up the characters and the situation.
posted by pintapicasso at 7:36 PM on February 23, 2010

i wonder if it was "Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls" - book #2
posted by nadawi at 7:36 PM on February 23, 2010

According to Wikipedia, Charlotte's last name is Johanssen and is listed as Stacey's favorite.
posted by k8t at 7:50 PM on February 23, 2010

God I love the Phantom Tollbooth. I still use the 'If you jump to Conclusions (which is an island just off the coast, naturally) you have to swim back" line.

Sorry, no idea about the AskMe.
posted by Sebmojo at 8:36 PM on February 23, 2010

This blog post indicates that it was Vanessa Pike, Mallory's younger sister, who was reading The Phantom Tollbooth but unfortunately doesn't say which book it was.
posted by anderjen at 9:05 PM on February 23, 2010

It's in Mary Anne Saves the Day. I did a couple of Amazon search insides (this was the fourth book I looked at) and got very lucky with the random books I chose to search.

Page 94: "Can I just read?" asked Vanessa, who's quiet. "I'm in the middle of The Phantom Tollbooth."
posted by crinklebat at 9:17 PM on February 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

This is my new favorite question.

Is is possible the book is mentioned more than once? I seem to remember Charlotte reading it also.
posted by Amanda B at 9:43 PM on February 23, 2010

The weird thing is, I found Vanessa reading it, but my gut reaction to this question was "This has Charlotte Johanssen all over it."

Someone else is welcome to man the Amazon search inside torpedoes or their own personal library to try to find another mention :)
posted by crinklebat at 9:53 PM on February 23, 2010

Wow, I totally got sucked into this question and thus the wild world of "holy cow are there a lot of crazy BSC sites."

anderjen beat me to the blog post about Vanessa (and kudos, crinklebat, for finding the exact book).

However, I did find this livejournal post that asks a similar question, and apparently The Phantom Tollbooth was the titular prize in the Little Sister's Karen's Prize. (Amazon search says the references are on pages 21 and 66, but no preview available for those pages.)
posted by paisley sheep at 10:30 PM on February 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Can't be a Claudia book. That girl was NOT literary.
posted by k8t at 10:47 PM on February 23, 2010

Can't be a Claudia book. That girl was NOT literary.

Unless The Phantom Tollbooth was hollowed out and filled with candy!
posted by polyester.lumberjack at 11:01 PM on February 23, 2010

I remember a Claudia book where she was trying to get her act together (I'm almost positive it was the same one where she meets a funky artist chick and enters a bust of Jackie Rodowsky in an art show) and talks about being so behind that she has to make a list of lists to make. In that scene she talks about reading A Wrinkle in Time for school and actually being excited to read the "Mrs Who," " Mrs Where" and "Mrs Which" chapters. (Somewhat usless trivia, but it might spark someone else's memory. Far too much of my 33-year-old brain is filled with details like this. And about She-Ra.)
posted by alicetiara at 4:41 AM on February 24, 2010