Jumanji

Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Copyright Date: 1981
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 32
Reading Level: Ages 9 & Up
Genre: Fantasy, Picture book

Summary
"Jumanji" is the story of two siblings named Judy and Peter. Their parents leave to go to the opera, and are going to return later with a few guests. Once their parents leave, the get bored playing and decide to go to the park. At the park, they find a game, a long thin box, sitting underneath a tree and decide to take it home. The game was called Jumanji. The directions to the game say that the game itself will not be over until a player reaches Jumanji--"The Golden City". Peter rolls the dice first, and the game begins. Throughout the game, they discover that whatever square of the game they land on becomes real life. They encounter many adventures--a lion, monkeys, a volcano eruption, and many more. Finally, Judy reaches Jumanji and everything returns to normal and they return the game to the park. Exhausted from the game, they turn to a puzzle but are both so tired they fall asleep. When their parents arrive with their guests, Judy and Peter wake up and tell them about their adventure. One of the guests mentions how hard their puzzle was, and how her two sons, Daniel and Walter, never finish puzzles and never read directions. To this both children reply, "I hope so", because outside the window they saw Danny and Walter running through the park with a long thin box.

The pictures in this book are incredibly detailed, and they are all black and white. I thought it was interesting that Allsburg chose to have all the illustrations without color, but I think it adds to the mystery of the game and allows the reader to use his or her imagination more freely. "Jumanji" also received the Caldecott Medal.

Reaction
I thought this book was great! The illustrations were extremely detailed and the story is excellent. There is so much adventure and the book allows your imagination to go wild!

Recommendations
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good adventure. It's such a fun book!

Problems/Conflicts
There are a couple problems I could see people having with this book. First of all, the children are left home alone. Second, the game is very outlandish and brings out a lot of scary things for children to encounter.