Zathura

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Zathura

Cover of Zathura
Author Chris Van Allsburg
Illustrator Chris Van Allsburg
Cover artist Chris Van Allsburg
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Children's novel
Publisher Houghton Mifflin
Publication date October 28, 2002
Pages 32
ISBN ISBN 061-825-3963
ISBN 978-061-825-3968

Zathura is an illustrated novel by the American author Chris Van Allsburg as well as a film based on the book. In this book, two boys, Walter and Danny Budwing, home alone in a large American Craftsman house, discover a space-themed board game where everything inside it becomes real. The boys are eventually drawn into an intergalactic adventure when their house is magically hurled through space. The plot is similar to Jumanji, another illustrated book by Van Allsburg, and references are made, both visual and textual, to Jumanji.

Walter and Danny, two quarrelsome brothers, find the Jumanji game in the nearby park. Danny looks deeper into the box, however, and discovers another game inside of it, Zathura. He starts playing, and Walter finds himself having to help his sibling rival to get home. To finish the game, they must endure a malfunctioning gyroscope, a meteor shower, low gravity, a defective robot, and invading Zorgon aliens. The game is eventually "finished" when Walter is sent back in time prior to Zathura's playing by a black hole.

Fritz appears in the book as a toy dog in a car on the first page.

[edit] Film version

Main article: Zathura (film)

A film version gives a sister to the boys, introduces a derelict astronaut to the plot, and multiplies the number of the Zorgons and Zorgon ships. The robot changes from a cylinder-shaped silver robot with claws to a rocket-propelled machine with a buzzsaw. The game also goes from a cardboard board game to a retro tin toy. In the movie, the boys are competing for their divorced dad's attention. The film is set in the 21st century with the game espousing the aesthetic of 1950s science fiction, while the book has illustrations that suggest a 1950s look, both before and after the board game starts.

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