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Fifty years ago Norton Juster sat down and tried to remember the confusion and dislocation of childhood. His memories became a book, and The Phantom Tollbooth was born. In this essay, Juster looks back at his beloved novel, and the bored, disconnected child who grew up to write it.

The decibel level in a room filled with children trading candy rivals that of Wall Street. When the trading peaks, cross-room deals have Milk Duds flying overhead while a Jolly Rancher comes the other way.

With college tuition on the rise, students find one way to keep up: take on more debt. New data show that students who graduated in 2010 carried 5 percent more debt than in the previous year.

The baby boomer generation came into politics with a liberal challenge to the establishment, but that hasn't made it a reliably Democratic voting block. This middle-aged group is deeply dissatisfied with the economy and frustrated with the president.

Voters in Ohio have defeated a new law that limits the collective bargaining rights of unionized public workers. Since the law hadn't taken effect yet, current union rules will remain in place. Ohio voters hope their outcome will send a message to other states considering similar laws.

The school's trustees are also launching their own investigation into the allegations that a former assistant football coach sexually abused young boys — and that some school officials had been told but didn't alert police.

Lars von Trier's Melancholia stars Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg as sisters who undergo a psychological transformation as disaster approaches. Critic David Edelstein says the film is a sublime fusion of form and content with a truly Wagnerian climax. (Recommended)

Gov. Rick Scott has a new focus on the "River of Grass." His promise to work on restoration is welcome news to environmentalists and other concerned with the Everglades' future. Still, many are skeptical, given the big cuts to Everglades programs during the Republican's first year in office.

Can inspiration hit too close to home? Author Alex Gilvarry chronicles the challenges of trying to emulate famed writer Norman Mailer — while staying in Mailer's old house.

As the natural gas industry booms in Pennsylvania, drillers are encountering a hodgepodge of local rules on hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." State lawmakers are considering changes that would limit the way a local community regulates what happens in its own backyard.