Zathura: A Space Adventure
by Chris Van Allsburg
illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
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Houghton Mifflin (Boston): 28 October 2002. Hardcover: 32 pages. ISBN-10: 0-618-25396-3 Suggested retail price: $18.00 (US) Tags: aliens; brothers; Juvenile; made into movie; space travel; time travel Tactical strength: [5/10] |
In Zathura, Chris Van Allsburg tells another story about a reality-altering game. In this case, Danny and Walter find the game in the park. Danny, the younger brother, wants to play with Walter, but Danny just wants to sit in front of the television. Walter refuses to play the game with Danny, so Danny starts the game alone. A card pops out of the game with the message, "Meteor showers, take evasive action." After a large meteor blasts through the roof, Walter takes an interest in the game, which seems to have transported the entire house into outer space. As the game progresses, Danny saves Walter several times, in spite of Walter's bad attitude toward Danny. On Walter's final turn, his card says, "You have entered a black hole, . . . Go back in time, one hour for each mark on the dice." Walter gets sent back three hours, which puts Walter in the park with Danny just before they find the game. With a new respect for his little brother, Walter tells Danny, "You don't want to play this. . . . I've got a better idea. Let's go play catch."
Where Jumanji provided an afternoon adventure, Zathura provides a story with a moral: that you should treat your younger brother with respect, because you never know when you might need him to save your life. This difference doesn't make Zathura a less interesting book, in fact, having a moral should have made Zathura potentially more interesting since a character has a change of heart.
If you have read Jumanji, Zathura offers no real surprises. You already know that the game will alter reality, so we don't experience any shock when a meteor really does crash through the roof. But I find Van Allsburg's illustrations in Zathura inferior to his work in Jumanji. Where illustrations in Jumanji had a clean precision, Zathura has a rough and crude feeling. The pages still have a linear precision, but the shading, although still skillfully controlled, has a rough texture that gives every page a crude feel when compared to the smooth shading in Zathura. Between the recycled story line and the less crisp artwork, I found Zathura a general disappointment after the much superior Zathura.
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