Jumanji

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Jumanji
Author	Chris Van Allsburg
Illustrator	Chris Van Allsburg
Country	United States
Series	Board Game
Genre(s)	Children's, Fantasy novel
Publisher	Houghton Mifflin
Publication date	1981
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	32 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-395-30448-2

Jumanji is the title of a 1981 children's illustrated novel written and illustrated by the American author Chris Van Allsburg. It was made into a 1995 film of the same name. Both the book and the movie are about a magical board game that implements real animals and other jungle elements as the players are playing the game. The troubles which the players have to overcome appear in real life, not only in the board game.

Fritz, a pit bull in all of Chris Van Allsburg's books, appears as a toy dog on wheels in the third illustration.

[edit] Plot summary

Judy and Peter's parents are going out to an opera. They tell the brother and sister to keep the house neat when they get back because they're going to have company. The two are bored after the parents leave. They head outside to the park. Under a tree, they find a game that says on the box: "Jumanji: A Jungle Adventure. Free game. Fun for some but not for all. P.S Read instructions carefully." They head home with the box to find a very ordinary looking board game inside. The game starts in the jungle, and ends in a golden city named Jumanji. Judy reads the instructions, which say:

A. Player selects piece and places it in the deepest jungle.

B. Player rolls dice and moves piece ahead that many spaces.

C. The first player to reach Jumanji and call out its name wins.

D. Once a game of Jumanji has been started, it will not be over until a player has reached The Golden City.

Peter starts the game by rolling a seven and unleashes a lion that tries to attack him. The lion, luckily, is locked in a room. Judy goes, rolls an eight, and releases a bunch of monkeys that mess up the kitchen. Peter then causes a monsoon that floods the house. Judy then releases the hunter Van Pelt that likes to shoot his guns. Peter is then put to sleep by a tsetse fly. Judy rolls the dice and creates a rhino stampede that destroys the house. Peter's next roll releases a deadly python. Judy can finish the game if she rolls a twelve. She rolls the dice, they land on six and six and Judy's piece reaches the end, and she yells out, "Jumanji". Soon, a mist surrounds the house, and when it fades, the house is back to normal. Judy and Peter return the game into its box and put it back near the tree. Later on, when the adults are talking, Judy and Peter see Danny and Walter, two of the parents' friends' children, walking home with the game. They comment that they wonder how the boys will do since they usually ignore instructions.

[edit] See also

• Jumanji (film), a film based on this book.
• Zathura, another novel written by Van Allsburg, has also been adapted to film; its story also involves children who find a magic board game, but the theme is science fiction rather than jungle fiction.