Jumanji: It’s a Jungle Out There!

             

         Many readers are familiar with author Chris Van Allsburg thanks to the great success of his 1985 classic, The Polar Express. But I was surprised to find while pursuing the bookshelves of the Williamsburg/James City County Regional Library that he also authored another familiar tale, Jumanji, which was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1981. A huge fan of the movie from when I was younger, I couldn’t remember reading the book so of course I picked it up to review for this class! Much like Van Allsburg’s other material, Jumanji did not disappoint.

            The book centers around two siblings, Peter and Judy, left at home by their parents and looking for something to do. They decide to go to the park to play and there find a mysterious game called “Jumanji: A Jungle Adventure Game.” The rules seem pretty simple but one is rather ominous, “Once a game of Jumanji is started, it will not be over until one player reaches the golden city.” Peter and Judy shrug this off and begin to play, but they soon find that they are in for more than they bargained for. Peter lands on a space labeled “Lion attacks, move back two spaces,” and finds that a live and hungry lion has been transported into his living room. He and Judy trap the lion in a bedroom and are tempted to stop playing and call the zoo. But Judy reminds Peter of the instructions’ warning – the game won’t end until they reach the golden city of Jumanji. The two continue playing the game, encountering a monkey attack, monsoon, lost tour guide, rhino stampede and python before Judy can reach the city and yell out “Jumanji!” Just as mysteriously as the animals appeared, a calm descends upon their house. The two siblings pack the game up as quickly as possible and return it to the park where they found it, relief setting in as they realize they made it out alive. When their parents return home, it’s as if nothing has happened.

            A great thing about Jumanji is that it plays upon the typical childhood michevious streak that arises whenever left without supervision. The fact that the two kids are left on their own does not ever seem weird or dangerous, it seems FUN. It allows Peter and Judy to literally travel through the harrows of a jungle adventure and back, all before Mom and Dad get home. Readers will identify with the thrill that this can allow, especially given the pressure of removing a lion from a bedroom before their parents get home. Filled with suspense, excitement and imagination, children will undoubtedly love Jumanji, as they have for the past twenty plus years.  

           The text is rather dense for a picture book and thus more suitable for upper primary ages. It not only employs the fantastic, it also provides a great platform for teachers to discuss monsoons, the rainforest and its numerous animal inhabitants. Van Allsburg’s drawings have a silent intensity to them and also open the book up for imaginative interpretation. The simple black and white pictures convey a lot of drama based upon shading and content. For example, when Peter and Judy find the game and are leaving the park with it in tow, the picture is extremely dark and ominous. The same feeling can be found at the very end, when two other children are shown taking the game from where Peter and Judy placed it in the park. In the scenes where the various jungle animals appear, the white of the illustration is very white and the shading is very dark, symbolizing Jumanji’s intensity and drama. Van Allsburg also leaves a lot to the reader’s imagination, for example, never showing the faces of Peter and Judy’s parents or the lion. There is an eerie quality to these drawings and I’m sure children will feel a chill down their spines when they imagine being chased by a lion or a stampede of rhinos in their own homes. Best of all, my favorite part about Jumanji is that it provides young readers with an exciting and suspenseful ride through the surreal without the use of a computer, game console or Wii!