Joy in the (Hero's) Journey

I love the puns in The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. There's nothing like the abuse of the slipperiness of language to make you chuckle. However, the real reason why it's my favorite book is not the wordplay: it's the adventure. Milo sets out on a quest, deals with harrowing trials and returns triumphant.

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After reading the Odyssey last semester, in class we talked about the necessary qualities of an epic. Since my paper's claim is that The Phantom Tollbooth follows the traditional "Hero's Journey" model, I will need to answer this question: "What makes Milo's journey a Hero's Journey? Does he have everything it takes to measure up to Odysseus, Aeneas and Gilgamesh from the great epic journeys of literature?"