Jumanji (picture book) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Jumanji

Author	Chris Van Allsburg
Illustrator	Chris Van Allsburg
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Children's, fantasy novel
Publisher	Houghton Mifflin
Publication date	1981
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	32
ISBN	0-395-30448-2
OCLC	7196761
Dewey Decimal	[Fic] 19
LC Class	PZ7.V266 Ju
Followed by	Zathura

Jumanji is a 1981 fantasy children's picture book, written and illustrated by the American author Chris Van Allsburg. The book is about a magical board game that implements animals and other jungle elements as the game is played in real life. A sequel to the book titled Zathura was released in 2002. The book was adapted into a 1995 film of the same name and it spawned a franchise that includes three sequels and an animated television series.

Jumanji star Robin Williams said "jumanji" is a Zulu word meaning "many effects". But this is unverified. In 2011, Williams recorded an audiobook for its 30th edition.

Storyline

While their parents are out for the day, Judy and Peter Shepherd, after playing with some toys, become bored and decide to go to the park. There they find a jungle adventure game called Jumanji. Taking the game home, they find a warning message; "Do not begin unless you intend to finish". Ignoring the warning, they start to play.

The pair soon discovers that any dangers encountered in the game spring to life somewhere in the house. For example, when Peter rolls on a lion, a real lion appears, which Judy and Peter trap in their mother's bedroom. Judy rolls on a stampede, Peter rolls on a monsoon, and Judy rolls on an explorer—and each appears in real life to wreak havoc in the house. Still they continue to play, hoping that if they finish the game everything will go back to normal. The game finally ends when Judy rolls a twelve and yells "Jumanji!".

In an instant everything is back to normal and the siblings quickly return to the park and abandon the game before their parents return. The story ends when Judy and Peter look outside and see their neighbors, Danny and Walter, excitedly returning from the park with Jumanji in their hands with the knowledge that their mother claims the brothers never bother to finish the games they play nor read the instructions.

Adaptations

Jumanji, a 1995 film based on the story, is an adaptation of the picture book. Unlike the short story, the film has adult characters that did not appear in the original short story like Alan Parrish (Robin Williams/Adam Hann-Byrd), Sarah Whittle (Bonnie Hunt/Laura Bell Bundy), Officer Carl Bentley (David Alan Grier), Aunt Nora (Bebe Neuwirth) and a big-game hunter named Van Pelt (Jonathan Hyde who also portrayed Alan's father, Sam Parrish). Not only is Alan Parrish the main protagonist instead of Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter (Bradley Pierce), but a background story is added, in which the game trapped Alan in the jungle many years earlier while he and Sarah were playing back in 1969. Danny and Walter Budwing from the end of the original book do not appear in the film. Also in the film, Judy and Peter are orphaned after their parents died in a car accident in Canada and their aunt is now their legal guardian. Other changes are that the animals wreak havoc all over town, Peter transforming into a monkey while trying to cheat and Alan ultimately winning the game instead of Judy with everything including time restored back to the way it was before. The drumbeats in the game are also heard far away, which never happened in the book.

Jumanji (TV series) is an animated TV series roughly based on the book and the film, which ran from 1996 to 1999. Unlike the book and film, the game transports Judy and Peter in the jungle after taking turns and reading a clue instead of releasing all of the jungle elements and there are other villains besides Van Pelt. Also, Peter transforms into various animals while trying to cheat in a few episodes and Alan Parrish from the film remains trapped in the game until the final episode and Danny and Walter from the end of the original book are absent.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, is a 2017 film that stars Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan. Though explicitly a sequel, it is more of an action adventure than the 1995 film.

Jumanji: The Next Level, is a 2019 sequel to the 2017 film, which returns stars Johnson, Black, Hart, and Gillan. Actors Awkwafina, Rory McCann, Danny Glover, and Danny DeVito also join the cast.

Sequel

Zathura (published in 2002) is a sequel to Jumanji also written by Van Allsburg. In the book, Danny and Walter Budwing (who appear at end of the Jumanji) find a science fiction board game whose elements similarly come to life. It was adapted to the film Zathura: A Space Adventure in 2005.

See also

In Spanish: Jumanji para niños