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Jumanji

Jumanji

Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg, 1981.

Judy and Peter, a brother and sister, are left home alone while their parents go to an opera. In spite of their parents’ warning not to make a mess because they’ll be bringing guests by later, the kids scatter all of their toys around while playing. Then, the kids go to the park to play for awhile, and they find a board game labeled Jumanji with a note that the game is free to anyone who wants to play it. Judy and Peter decide to give the game a try and take it home.

JumanjiPark

Jumanji turns out to be a kind of race game. Players are supposed to make their way down a path through a jungle, facing all kinds of dangers, until someone reaches the golden city of Jumanji. The instructions warn them that once a game has begun, it will not be over until one of the players reaches Jumanji.

JumanjiGameStart

At first, Peter thinks that the game is boring and easy, but it soon becomes apparent that things that happen in the board game are starting to happen in real life when a live lion suddenly appears after an encounter with one on the game board.  Peter is scared and wants to stop playing, but Judy reminds him that they can’t stop because the game won’t end until one of them reaches the end of the path on the game board. Until the game ends, they’re stuck with the lion and anything else that happens to appear because of the game. They have no choice but to keep playing, facing each danger as wild animals rampage through their house.

JumanjiLion

Chris Van Allsburg books always have amazing illustrations, and the pictures in this book are especially good!  At the end of the book, the children see two other children find the game, which leads to the sequel, Zathura.

JumanjiRhino

There is a movie version of this book, but the movie differs greatly from the original story. In the movie, the two kids were friends, not brother and sister, and the boy ends up trapped in the game for a period of years until, finally, a new set of kids starts playing and helps the original players to finish their game.  When their game ends, the original children are returned to their own time, and no one but them knows that they were ever gone.  Things turn out better for the future children as well because the older players make things better for everyone in their own time.  There were no players stuck in the game in the original book, and everything takes place during a single day.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

JumanjiParents

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Games From Long Ago

Historic Communities

GamesLongAgo

Games From Long Ago by Bobbie Kalman, 1995.

GamesLongAgoForfeitsThis book is about games people would play in 19th century America.  There is a variety of different types of games, although the main focus is on parlor games.  Many of them have been passed on for generations by word of mouth and are still played today, such  as Charades and Blind Man’s Buff, although the book discusses games that are no longer common.

One important concept in 19th century games was the “forfeit”, where losing players would have to perform a kind of silly stunt. The other players might hold onto an object belonging to the losing player, holding it as hostage until they performed the stunt.  Forfeits were a common part of parlor games.

The book also talks about popular tabletop games such as dominoes, cards, tiddlywinks, and pick-up sticks.  Because dice were often associated with gambling, movements in board games were often determined by spinners or special numbered spinning tops called “teetotums,” which look something like dreidels but with more sides.  Board games for children were often educational, teaching them about subjects like history or geography or moral lessons, rewarding “good” decisions and penalizing “bad” ones (although, since movements in these games were determined by spinners, the players were at the mercy of the random chance as to which of these choices their playing pieces landed on, not making actual good and bad decisions by themselves).

GamesLongAgoTeetotum

There are also examples of games played at work parties, parties or “bees” organized around farm tasks such as barn-building or harvests.  These parties might include a hay maze (like a corn maze, but with hay sheaves), a game of Gossip (an early version of Telephone, played exactly the same way), or Bobbing for Apples.

GamesLongAgoHoliday

There is a short section about games for specific holidays, although there are only three given.  Two of them are for Christmas (one of those is a basic version of Pinata called Bag and Stick), and one for Valentine’s Day.  There are also sections about outdoor games and sports.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

GamesLongAgoOutdoor

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Animalia

Animalia

Animalia by Graeme Base, 1986.

The best part about this book is the pictures.  They are absolutely beautiful and contain many small details for readers to spot.

On the surface, the book is about the alphabet, each page featuring a single sentence with every or almost every word starting with the same letter, and all of the pages are in alphabetical order.  (If you’re wondering what the author used for ‘X’, it’s a fox.  ‘X’ is an exception because all of the letters in that sentence end with ‘X’ instead of starting with it.)  The sentences and pictures are about animals, some real and some mythical.

AnimaliaGorillas

However, there is also a game that you can play with the book which is explained in a poem on the title page:

“Within the pages of this book
You may discover, if you look
Beyond the spell of written words,
A hidden land of beasts and birds.
For many things are ‘of a kind’,
And those with keenest eyes will find
A thousand things, or maybe more–
It’s up to you to keep the score.
A final word before we go;
There’s one more thing you ought to know:
In Animalia, you see,
It’s possible you might find me.”

Readers are invited to notice all of the other things in the pictures which start with the designated letter, and the author himself appears throughout the book, hiding in the pictures. There is a picture of him on the title page so you know who to look for.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

AnimaliaLions

AnimaliaPeacocks

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The Westing Game

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, 1978.

It all starts when a mysterious person invites six sets of people to live in the new apartment building, Sunset Towers.  Sunset Towers is a luxury apartment building, but the rent for these individuals and families is surprisingly affordable.  That is because these people are special, and the owner of these apartments is preparing for a very special game.  Although there doesn’t seem to be anything to tie these people together at first, they do share a special connection that isn’t immediately obvious, a connection to the wealthy but mysterious Samuel Westing.

Among the new tenants of Sunset Towers is young Turtle Wexler.  Although she is often in the shadow of her overly-shy but pretty older sister, Angela, she has ambitions of her own in life.  While her mother dreams of making it in high society, Turtle (whose real name is also something of a mystery to the other tenants for most of the book) wants to become a successful businesswoman when she grows up, and one of the things she wants most is a subscription to the Wall Street Journal.  To raise the money she needs, Turtle accepts a bet to sneak into the supposedly empty Westing House on Halloween night, earning $2 for every minute she spends there.  There are stories that the place is haunted and that Mr. Westing’s body lies rotting on an oriental rug there, but Turtle doesn’t believe them.  As it turns out, she’s right.  Instead, she finds Mr. Westing dead in bed.

To everyone’s surprise, the tenants of Sunset Towers are all named in the will, but not in an ordinary way.  In order to determine who the final heir will be, they must all play The Westing Game.  The heirs are divided up into teams of two and given $10,000 and a set of clues.  They must use these to give an answer at the end.  But, what kind of an answer?  Mr. Westing’s will implies that he was murdered, but is that really true?  Could his murderer even be among the heirs/game players?

As the book continues, readers learn more about each of the contestants.  Each of them has their own personalities, ambitions, and problems.  For example, Angela Wexler is about to be married but seems less than enthusiastic about the wedding.  Cristos Theodorakis suffers from a strange malady that keeps him confined to a wheelchair.  Sydelle Pulaski was actually invited to join the tenants by mistake, but it might be the best mistake of her life.  Mr. Hoo is worried about his restaurant, and Madame Hoo dreams of returning to China.

The competition is fierce in the Westing Game.  Players are suspicious of other players cheating.  Things around the apartments start disappearing, and some mysterious person has even started planting explosives in unlikely places!  Whether the thefts and explosions have anything to do with the contest itself is for the reader to discover, but there is an answer to the Westing Game, and only one of the contestants will discover it.

The book is a Newbery Award winner.  There is a movie version of the book called Get a Clue! (1997), although it doesn’t follow the book completely.  There are multiple copies of the book currently available online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

One of the great things about the Westing Game is how the seemingly mismatched pairs of contestants actually complement each other, giving people new perspectives on their lives and the answers to problems that some of them have been struggling with.   Lonely Flora Baumbach, grieving for her deceased daughter, is paired with young Turtle, who finds in her a more motherly person than her own mother, someone who values her for her intelligence and her unique skills in a way that no one else does.  Mrs. Baumbach enjoys having someone to care for again, and Turtle blossoms under her care and attention.  Mr. Hoo, meanwhile, finds some unexpected support for his business from Mrs. Wexler, who develops broader interests in life than her previous social ambitions and an unexpected flair for business and marketing.  Judge Ford, who was educated by Mr. Westing and always worried about how to repay the debt, finally finds a way to repay his kindness, a way that Mr. Westing would have approved.  Bertha Crow, an unhappy woman who turned to religion to atone for past sins, finds new happiness with someone who understands and accepts her past and is willing to help her continue her good works.  Even Angela, who seems to have everything a young girl would want (good looks and a kind fiance with a promising future in medicine), figures out what she really wants in life and finds the courage to stand up for it.