Penguin Readers Factsheets

level
E

T e a c h e rs n o t e s

1
2

Jumanji

3
4

Novelization by Todd Strasser

Based on the screenplay and screen story
based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg

6
ELEMENTARY

S U M M A R Y
That game is too dangerous for children to play! says
Alan Parrish. Alan Parrish should know. He played the
game in 1969 and disappeared! Jumanji is a story for
children about a very strange game - a game that
becomes far too real and frightening for the players. It was
originally a story by Chris Van Allsburg. It was released as
a film in 1996, starring the famous American actor Robin
Williams.

The story moves on to 1995. Peter and Judy Shepherd

are orphans. They come to live in the same house that
Alan Parrish lived in. They find the game, Jumanji, in an
attic room, and start to play it; the first throw of the dice
unleashes an unexpected sequence of events...

ABOUT CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

The story Jumanji first appeared as a book by Chris Van
Allsburg, published in 1981. It was then transformed into
a screen story, and then a screenplay (written for the film,
Jumanji) involving other writers besides Van Allsburg.
Finally Todd Strasser wrote a novelization based on the
screenplay. The Penguin Readers version of Jumanji is
based on this novelization.
Chris Van Allsburg was born in 1949 in Michigan, USA.
He was originally an artist and has had numerous
individual exhibitions. In 1979 he wrote his first childrens
book, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, and since then he has
written over a dozen books for children. Van Allsburgs
illustrations play an important part in all his books.

Pearson Education 2000

All Van Allsburgs books have uncertain boundaries

between reality and fantasy, or dream, and contain a
puzzle element. The deepest puzzle in his books is - are
the events real or are they fantasy? For children, the world
of the imagination is very real. The boundaries between
the imagination and the real world are not yet firmly in
place. The authors stories make these uncertain
boundaries very explicit - his stories are consequently
both confusing and exciting.
Van Allsburgs stories often narrate a quest (a long
search). The hero or heroes set out on an adventure that
changes them in some way for the better, and teaches
them something important. This is an age-old theme, but
Van Allsburg, with his blurring of fantasy and reality,
succeeds in giving a brilliant new twist to it.

ABOUT THE FILM

Jumanji, released in 1996, has been highly successful. It
is an entertaining, action-packed movie. The fantasy
sequences involving jungle scenes were created using
computer-generated imagery, giving the film breathtaking
special effects! Robin Williams, who plays Alan, has great
charisma and a crazy, out-of-control humour that appeals
to all ages. He also has a vulnerability that enables him to
play children very successfully. A twist in the film is that
the same actor plays the hunter Van Pelt and Alans father.
The suggestion here is that because his father intends to
send Alan to boarding school, Alan feels betrayed, and
even persecuted by him. In the world of Jumanji, where
fantasy and reality are all tangled up, Van Pelt persecutes
Alan in the same way.

JUMANJI: THEMES
Jumanji takes the world of the imagination and then
shows how this fantasy world invades the real world,
causing danger and chaos. How can this happen, the
reader asks? But the narrative is so convincing that the
reader believes it really is happening. The story becomes
extremely gripping as a consequence.

JUMANJI

The story begins in 1869 in New Hampshire, America.

Two young brothers bury a box under some trees. They
fear that someone will find the box some time - Then God
help them, says one of the boys. A hundred years later, in
1969, a boy, Alan Parrish, finds the box and takes it home.
Hes unhappy; his father wants to send him to boarding
school. Alans friend Sarah arrives, and they open the box.
Inside is a board game. They throw the dice and words
appear: Do you want to leave the world behind? Then this
is the game for you. Suddenly Alan finds that he is
disappearing into the game...

THEMES IN VAN ALLSBURGS NOVELS

Penguin Readers Factsheets

T e a c h e rs n o t e s
The story has a deeper meaning too. Through his
adventures Alan learns something very important - that if
you confront your fears your problems will go away. Alan
turns to face Van Pelt, the hunter who is trying to kill him.
In doing so, he completes the game and can return to
reality; he finds that his father is not going to send him to
boarding school after all.
Jumanji has other levels to it. One of these is the time
theme. In Jumanji, time is elastic. Alan travels back and
forwards through time. When he finally arrives back in
1969, having put everything right, then the possible
disastrous future is altered. The film director Steven
Spielbergs Back to the Future films play with time in the
same way. Top scientists even tell us now that time travel
is theoretically possible!

JUMANJI

Another theme is the boy in a mans body theme. Alan

appears in 1995, in a thirty-eight-year-old body, but with a
twelve-year-old mind! This is a fascinating, amusing idea.
But above all, Jumanji is an adventure story, full of the
thrills and spills that keep the reader turning the pages to
find out what happens next. Teenagers will enjoy it
enormously.

Communicative activities
The following teacher-led activities cover the same sections
of text as the exercises at the back of the reader, and
supplement those exercises. For supplementary exercises
covering shorter sections of the book, see the photocopiable
Students Activities pages of this Factsheet. These are
primarily for use with class readers but, with the exception of
discussion and pair/groupwork questions, can also be used
by students working alone in a self-access centre.

ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK

Photocopy the pictures and their captions on pages 4, 11,
24 and 31. Separate the pictures from their captions.
Photocopy the four pictures all together on one page, and
the four captions on another page, not in the same order
as the pictures. Put students in small groups and give
each group a page of pictures and a page of captions.
Ask students to:
(a) put the captions with the right pictures
(b) try to build the story from the pictures and the
captions

ACTIVITIES AFTER READING A SECTION

Chapters 1-3
1 Put students into pairs. Ask them to think about what
happened to Alan when he was in the game. They then
write his story. Tell students again that Alan was away
for twenty-six years.
2 Put students into pairs. They are Peter and Judy at the
end of Chapter 3. Alan leaves them. What do they
say?

Chapters 4-7
1 Put students in pairs. Ask them to do the following:
(a) Write down the animals in these chapters. Then
they check their answers by looking at the book.

Pearson Education 2000

(b) Say which animal in the story they are most afraid
of and why.
(c) Say which animal in the story they like best and
why.
2 Teach the words imagine and magic. In pairs, students
talk about these questions.
(a) Who do you think made this game?
(b) Why do you think this person (or people) made it?
(c) Imagine you can make a magic game. Write about
this game.

Chapters 8-10
1 Find the words pair and rhyme in your dictionary. Then
do these exercises.
(a) There are four pairs of rhyming lines in Chapter 8.
They are not in the right places here. Put the four
pairs together again.
(i) Sometimes its back that you must go.
(ii) An animal? No, the house is breaking!
(iii) Want a hand? Well, you wait!
(iv) Look! The floor! Youre falling through it!
(v) There is something you must know,
(vi) We can help you - we have eight!
(vii) Listen to the noise its making.
(viii) Be careful when you stand or sit.
(b) What does each pair of rhyming lines mean?
2 In pairs, students decide on new pictures for these
chapters and write a description of them.

ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK

Put students into pairs. Ask them to write the story of
each chapter in three or four sentences, no more. Then
students put their sentences in the wrong order. They give
their sentences to another pair. This pair has to put the
sentences in the right order again. Ask pairs to read out
their sentences in the right order.

Glossary
It will be useful for your students to know the following new words.
They are practised in the Before You Read sections of exercises at
the back of the book. (Definitions are based on those in the Longman
Active Study Dictionary.)
Chapters 1-3
bite (v) to put your teeth into somebody or something
bury (v) to put something in the ground
crash (n) a loud noise
drop (v) to fall from your hands
glass (n) this is hard and you can see through it; you make windows
with it
hole (n) an opening in something
machine (n) this thing does the work of people
refrigerator (n) this cupboard is cold and keeps food cold
scream (v) to cry loudly because you are afraid
surprised (adj) when something happens and it was not a plan, you
are surprised
Chapters 4-7
broken (adj) not working because someone or something has hit it
cheat (v) to do something in a game when you know it is a bad thing
to do

Published and distributed by Pearson Education

Factsheet written by Mary Tomalin
Factsheet series developed by Louise James

level

Penguin Readers Factsheets

level
E

Students activities

Jumanji

Photocopiable
Students can do these exercises alone or with one or more
other students. Pair/group-only activities are marked.

CHAPTERS 1-3
Brantford, New Hampshire, 1869
1 Complete these sentences.
(a) The boys threw a ............................. into the hole.
(b) The younger boy fell into the ........................ .
(c) A ............................... came from inside the box.
(d) ............................... ! said the younger boy.
(e) No! said his brother. We must
............................... it!
(f)

Somebody could ............................... it, said the

younger boy.

(g) Then God ............................... them, said his

brother.
2 Work with another student. Talk about this question.
Why do you think the boys are afraid?

Chapter 1
1 Which answer is right?
(a) Alan Parrishs father owns a
(i) shoe factory. (ii) bike factory.
(b) Alan wants his father to take him home
(i) because he is tired.
(ii) because he is frightened of Billy Jessup and
his friends.
(c) The five boys hit and kick Alan because
(i) he talked to Billy Jessups girlfriend.
(ii) he took Billys bike.
(d) Alan finds a box with the word Jumanji on it
(i) next to his bike. (ii) in a hole.

5
2 Answer these questions.
(a) What do we learn about Alan Parrish in this
chapter?
(b) Why do you think the box makes a noise?

ELEMENTARY

Chapter 2
1 Finish these sentences. Use these words:
dangerous, afraid, angry, small, kind
(a) Alan feels ............................ with his father.
(b) Sarah is a ............................ girl.
(c) Jumanji is a ............................ game.
(d) Alan suddenly becomes very ............................ .
(e) Sarah is ............................ of the bats.
2 Work with another student. Answer these questions.
(a) What strange things happen in this chapter?
(b) What do you think happens to Alan?
(c) What do you think Sarah does next?

Chapter 3
1 Put the words together and make sentences from the
story.
(a) Peter and Judys parents died
(b) Alan Parrish went away
(c) The two tokens jump
(d) The mosquitos
(e) The lion
(f) The man is
(g) The policeman is
(h) The monkeys
(i) jumps at Peter and Judy.
(ii) Alan Parrish.
(iii) take the policemans gun.
(iv) Carl Bentley.
(v) are as big as small birds.
(vi) twenty-six years ago.
(vii) in a car accident in Canada.
(viii) out of Peters hand.
2 These numbers are in Chapter 3. Why?
(a) 26, (b) 3 and 5, (c) 12, (d) 38, (e) 1995, (f) 2
3 Answer this question.
What is strange about Alan when he comes back from
inside the game?

CHAPTERS 4-7
Chapter 4
1 Answer these questions.
(a) Where does Alan go?
(b) What happened to his parents?
(c) Why doesnt Alan want to play the game again?
(d) Why does Alan look for Sarah Whittle?
(e) What happens to Sarah when she sees Alan?
2 Work with another student. Make Alan and Sarahs
conversation when they meet again.

Pearson Education 2000

JUMANJI

Activities while reading the book

3
4

Activities before reading the book

1 Look up dice, unusual and bury in your dictionary.
Then read the Introduction in your book. Find the
mistakes in these sentences.
In the year 1868, in a small town in New England,
USA, three young brothers bury a dangerous game.
The game is called Jumanji, and they bury it in a
hole under some trees. The boys are afraid.
Somebody could find it, says the older boy. Then
God help them! says his brother.
Somebody does find the game - fifty years later! And
with the second throw of the dice, something unusual
happens. But this is only the beginning . . .
Twenty-five years later, somebody must finish that
game! And when two children - Peter and Jane - find
the Jumanji box, strange things start to happen again.
2 The Introduction says, Something unusual happens
with the first throw of the dice. What do you think
happens?

Penguin Readers Factsheets

Students activities
Chapter 5
1 Finish these sentences.
(a) Twenty-six years ago we started something and
now we must ...................................................... .
(b) Down came the knife - and cut the
.......................................................... .
(c) This man from the jungle has
.......................................................... .
(d) Twenty or more rhinoceroses ran
.......................................................... .
(e) The bird had the board game
.......................................................... .
2 Answer these questions.
(a) What do you know about Van Pelt?
(b) Why do you think Van Pelt wants to kill Alan?

JUMANJI

Chapter 6

(i)

Sarahs arms are in the floor and she cannot

move them.

2 Work with another student. Talk about these

questions.
(a) Why do you think the token moves to the finish
at the end of the chapter?
(b) At the end of the chapter there are the words,
K-BOOM! What do you think happens?

Chapter 9
1 Answer these questions.
(a) What year is it?
(b) How do things change?
(c) How is Alan different with his father?
(d) What does Alan learn from the game?
(e) What happened to Peter and Judy?
(f) What do Alan and Sarah do with the box?
(g) What do you think Sarah wants to do?

Finish these sentences.

2 Work with another student. Make the conversation

between Peter and his father when they meet.

(a) Judy says Peter is clever because

.......................................................... .

Chapter 10

(b) Alan goes with Bentley to the police station because

.......................................................... .
(c) The children must finish the game because
.......................................................... .
(d) The token goes back to the beginning of the game
because .......................................................... .
(e) Peter grows thick, dark hair on his hands because
.......................................................... .

Chapter 7
1 Make sentences about the story with these words.
(a) Peter/monkey
(b) dangerous animals/town
(c) an elephant/car
(d) Van Pelt/game/Peter
(e) Peter/Van Pelts leg
(f) Alan/police car/shops front window
(g) rain/house
(h) Alan/water/crocodiles
2 Write a letter from Carl Bentley to a friend. Tell your
friend about Alan and the animals in the town.

CHAPTERS 8-10
Chapter 8
1 What happens first? What happens second? Write a
number from 1-9 next to each sentence.
(a) Twenty or thirty big spiders come into the room.
(b) Alan starts to fall through the floor.
(c) Alan says Jumanji.
(d) The floor breaks open.
(e) The token moves to the finish.
(f) The water goes down.
(g) Van Pelt is going to kill Alan.
(h) One of the dice falls down the hole.

Pearson Education 2000

1 Read this and put right the mistakes.

It is 1995 and Alan is forty years old. He has a shoe
shop. He is married to Lucy and his parents live in
England. Alan and Lucy are having a Christmas party.
There are two people there called John and Martha
Smith. They have two children called Judy and
Michael. Jim and Martha are thinking about going to
Mexico for a holiday. Alan and Lucy say, Dont go!
We want you to work in our shop.
2 Answer these questions.
(a) Why do Alan and Sarah invite Martha and Jim
Shepherd to their party?
(b) Why do Alan and Sarah want Jim and Martha
Shepherd to start work at the shoe factory as
soon as they can?
(c) Why do Alan and Sarah smile at the end of the
story?

Activities after reading the book

1 Who changes the future in this book? How?
2 Find the answers to these sentences. The first letter
of each answer makes a word. What is the word?
(a) Peters sister.
(b) Peter and Judy tell Carl Bentley that Alan is their
...................................................... .
(c) These animals broke plates in the kitchen.
(d) Nora is Peter and Judys ..................................... .
(e) A dice has .................................... on it.
(f) Lions sometimes live in the .................................... .
(g) Sarah says, Theres something ...............................
................ want to do.

Published and distributed by Pearson Education

Factsheet written by Mary Tomalin
Factsheet series developed by Louise James

level