Chris Van Allsburg Talks Zathura

Posted on November 8, 2005

Karen MacPherson of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette interviews author Chris Van Allsburg, author of Jumanji and Zathura, which is now a feature film. Jumanji won the 1982 Caldecott Medal and was made into a movie that is still popular with children. But the author didn't consider a sequel until his fans convinced him with their letters pleading for another book.

Van Allsburg got a further push when he discovered a two-sided board game in a 1906 Sears catalog that he was paging through one day. "It made me think that there could be two games in one box," said Van Allsburg in a recent telephone interview from his home in Providence, R.I. "One side could be the game with jungle perils. Maybe the other side could be an outer-space game."
Thus was born "Zathura," Van Allsburg's 2002 sequel to "Jumanji." "Zathura," which has been made into a just-released children's movie, picks up where the first book left off, with the quarrelsome Budwing brothers finding the game left in the park by the "Jumanji" characters.
When the Budwings begin to play the game, however, they discover that their house has been propelled into outer space. The brothers soon learn that they have to call a temporary truce to sibling rivalry and work together if they want to successfully fight off space aliens and get back to Earth.
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Van Allsburg likens having a film made from a book of his to "selling your home. ... You just have to hope they don't tear it down." "I think that, in the scheme of things, I've been lucky. I understand that, as a creator of picture books, I'm not providing filmmakers with a blueprint. All I am providing is a little inspiration."

Van Allsburg has won two Caldecott Medals so far: the other was for The Polar Express. Zathura opens in wide release on November 11th. The early buzz on the film is good.