Chris Van Allsburg has just written and illustrated a sequel to his famous "Jumanji" picture book. "Zathura", has a similar story line where two brothers happen upon a discarded game box. Danny, the younger brother, rolls the dice and up pops a card. When he reads "Meteor showers, take evasive action", Danny is about to ask what evasive means, but he stops mid- sentence when he hears a sound coming from the roof of their house. Their parents have gone out for the evening and Walter looks up at a huge hole in the ceiling. Danny realizes that this is the result of the game. Furthermore, it has suddenly gotten very dark and as they both look out of their front door, both brothers see nothing but stars and planets everywhere.
The brothers decide that they had better keep playing the game, or they may stay in outer space forever. So Walter rolls the dice and when the card pops out, he reads "The polarity on your gravity belt is reversed". At that moment, Walter is floating on the ceiling and beginning to drift closer to the hole.
With each roll of the dice, something new and completely unexpected happens to one or the other brother. The reader will begin to wonder how these two are going to get out of this predicament. Suffice it to say, that there are several more problems to go through before the reader reaches the end of the book.
The pictures are incredible. Mr. Van Allsburg has the ability to put his creativity down on paper for all to see as the brothers experience only what Mr. Van Allsburg has created. Once again, he has maintained his expert renderings from the level of precise reality to uncanny fantasy. Other books that he's written and illustrated are "The Polar Express", "The Garden of Adbul Gasazi", and "The Wreck of the Zephyr''. I keep hoping that he'll make a sequel to "The Polar Express."
I wonder when this book will be made into a movie, like Jumanji? A great read aloud for children ages 5 through 8 - and great reading for everyone older!
"The American West, An Illustrated History", by Liz Sonneborn, is one of the most informative and accurate books I've ever seen or read on this subject. The contents begin with the original Americans (Native Americans), the infiltration of the conquistadors, Americans moving West, the great Gold Rush, Native Americans fighting for control, building the railroad, cowboy life, and preserving the West, etc.
Ms. Sonneborn has historical documents, pictures, renderings, maps and factual accounts of the history of this beautiful, but arid climate. She has also included heart-rendering stories from people's journals and interesting accounts from various other sources, including newspapers. Every page has pictures and stories that are broken down making it easier to read. Ms. Sonneborn has interesting stories that add to the history of the time located on the side of many of the pages. These stories are easy to find because they are in a darker brown color. One such story sickens me as I read about how Geronimo was tricked by General Miles to give up fighting. He was told that if he did give up, his people would be able to live on the San Carlos Reservation. But instead, Geronimo and his people were placed in chains and sent to prison.
She also has a small section throughout the book with the heading of "Western Voices". Each of these are actual quotations from different sources describing life during these time periods which really helps to give a flair of what life was like back then. One account demonstrates how important the horse was in getting around. A woman settler describes how she would hunt and fish with her husband on her mustang. She would also ride 50 miles to go to a ball to dance with her silk "finery" stuffed in her saddlebag.
As the reader will soon discover, there is much to learn about, be excited about and much to cry about while people were settling the great American West. There were many different cultures and peoples involved in this mass migration, such as the Spanish exploring, African American's joining armies, Chinese building railroads, Chilean's mining, and of course Native Americans - who were the original settlers.
This book is an excellent history
lesson for everyone 9 and older!