Character Masks from "The Phantom Tollbooth"

The Phantom Tollbooth is a children's adventure novel that tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, decides to drive through it in his toy car. The tollbooth transports him to a land called the Kingdom of Wisdom. There he acquires two faithful companions, has many adventures, and goes on a quest to rescue the princesses of the kingdom--Princess Rhyme and Princess Reason--from the castle of air. He meets many characters along the way…

Fifth graders are currently reading The Phantom Tollbooth in English class. After selecting characters, students used their imaginations combined with the illustrations in the book to sketch their interpretation of the character. They rolled slabs out of clay to create the base for their masks and then used various clay building techniques to add the unique features of each, and finally they were glazed once bisque fired. Each boy wrote a blurb about their character, which I've copied underneath each photo. The colors in these pictures turned out a little wonky and it's hard to see the 3D aspects of these, but they are very cool in person- enjoy!

King Azaz’s Advisors are five, nicely dressed men who always talk in synonyms. The Advisors can do many different things including "hanging by a thread." 

The Dodecahedron has twelve different faces wearing twelve different emotions. He leads Milo and his companions through the numbers mine, where workers chisel out gemlike digits, to the city of Digitopolis.

King Azaz is the ruler of Dictionopolis and the realm of letters and words. Azaz and his brother, the Mathemagician, argue over which is more important—numbers or letters, and they banish the princesses Rhyme and Reason. Once he realizes the foolishness of his squabble, King Azaz sends Milo to rescue the princesses.

Officer Shrift is a policeman, a judge and a jailer for the city of Dictionopolis.  He has a whistle and a police hat. He has a habit of sentencing people to millions of years in prison then immediately forgetting about them. In the book, Officer Shrift arrests Milo for messing up the market square.

The Terrible Trivium is a character that has no facial features. He lives on the Mountain of Ingorance and preys upon travelers, convincing them to undertake tasks that can be completed.

The Which, Faintly Macabre, was appointed to decide "which" words the people should use for every occasion, but then she started to keep all of the words to herself, so she ended up in prison. The Which is also King Azaz's great aunt. Faintly tells Milo the story of the imprisoned princesses and inspires him to broach the subject with King Azaz.

Lethargarians are creatures that live in the Doldrums. They change colors to match their surroundings and they sometimes enforce laws against laughing and thinking. All day long they sit around and do nothing, wasting time or sleeping. The Lethargarians are very boring and lazy.  

Kakophonous Dischord is a doctor, but not the type you think he is. He is a scientist who enjoys creating loud rackets and unpleasant sounds, and curing pleasant sounds.

A peculiar fellow who says everything three times, the Whether Man is the caretaker of Expectations. He is so busy thinking about what could be and why that he never seems to go anywhere or get anything done.

The Mathemagician is the king of Digitopolis, who got in a big fight with his brother, King Azaz over which thing is better, words or numbers. During their fight they went to their sisters, Rhyme and Reason, who could answer any question and solve any problem. The two sisters could not figure out which is better so they said numbers and letters are equal. When the kings heard that they sent the princesses to the castle in the air. Later, King Azaz realizes how foolish that was and sends Milo to get the princesses back. 

The Humbug is an insect that only lives to flatter people, especially himself.  He accompanies Milo and Tock on their journey.

Although he is a giant bee, the Spelling Bee is a self-taught master of spelling and enjoys randomly spelling the words he hears or speaks.