Jumanji

Infobox Book
name = Jumanji
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Chris Van Allsburg
illustrator = Chris Van Allsburg
cover_artist =
country = United States
language =
series = Board Game
genre = Children's, Fantasy novel
publisher = Houghton Mifflin
release_date = 1981
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 32 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-395-30448-2
preceded_by =
followed_by =

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

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 what appears to be a very ordinary board game labelled "Jumanji: A Jungle Adventure. Free game. Fun for some but not for all. P.S Read instructions carefully." They take it home and begin to play. 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 rolls an eight, and releases monkeys which mess up the kitchen. Peter then causes a monsoon that floods the house. Judy then releases the hunter Van Pelt who 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, which she does. Judy's piece reaches the end, and she yells out "Jumanji!" A mist surrounds the house, and when it fades, the house is back to normal. Judy and Peter put the game away and return it to the tree under which they originally found it. After their parents return home, Judy and Peter see Danny and Walter, two of the parents' friends' children, walking home with the game and wonder how the boys will do since they usually ignore instructions.

ee also

*"Jumanji" (film), a film based on this book.
*"Jumanji" (TV series), animated TV series roughly based on the book and the film.
*"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.