Authors: Chris Van Allsburg (author, illustrator)
Series: yes
Genres: children book, fantasy, adventure, science fiction, fiction, classic
Short summary of the story: A couple of kids, Judy and Peter, are left at home while their parents go out to the opera. Told to keep the house neat, because the parents will be coming home with guests, they get bored quickly, and go to a nearby park, where they find a board game. A note on it, in childlike writing, says "Free game, fun for some for not for all. P.S. Read instructions carefully." It turns out that the game, Jumanji, somehow recreates the moves made on the board in real life. "Lion attacks, move back two spaces," turns into a real lion who shows up on the piano, licking his lips. More moves bring into the house more events and creatures. Judy and Peter try to quit the game, but the only way the game ends is for someone to reach the Golden City and call out 'Jumanji'. When Judy is able to do that, all the creatures disappear, the furniture is again whole, and all the water is gone. They throw the game back into the box and run back to the park to stash the box under a tree. The parents return; all seems normal. Then Judy and Peter look out the window -- they see a couple of neighbor boys running from the park, and the box is under Danny's arm.
Good points / bad points: I read this book because I had just watched the three Jumanji movies. I wanted to see what the original movie, Jumanji, came from. I was impressed with the imagination of the writer and the drawings are delightful! I think I'm even more impressed, though, with the movie Jumanji, and all the additional detail and story line, as the book itself was (to me) astonishingly short! The pictures, though, explain a lot of the story, without needing words, so perhaps, as a whole, the book is of the perfect length to tell the story.
Goodreads has this to say about Jumanji:
The game under the tree looked like a hundred others Peters and Judy had at home. But they were bored and restless and, looking for something interesting to do, thought they'd give Jumanji a try. Little did they know when they unfolded its ordinary-looking playing board that they were about to be plunged into the most exciting and bizare adventure of their lives.
In his second book for children, Chris Van Allsburg again explores the ever-shifting line between fantasy and reality with this story about a game that comes startingly to life.
His marvelous drawings beautifully convey a mix of the everyday and the extraordinary, as a quiet house is taken over by an exotic jungle.
