The Storyteller's Tollbooth

A boy goes through a tollbooth found on a playground and finds himself in the Lands Beyond. A king gives him a mission: find the stories that have gone missing from the kingdom. The boy and some friends travel through the Republic of Narrativia and have a series of adventures when they visit the Town of Plot, the State of Settings, the Character Cafe, the Cloud Village of Themes, the Great Wall of Fiction, and the Museum of Stories. They have a series of narrow escapes, including from a Japanese restaurant called The Haiku Story, where they have to come up with a story in haiku form before they can leave. Along the way, they learn about the basics of plot, setting, character, and theme.