Jusalil

This is a very special blog post dedicated to one of my youngest readers, who happens to be a very good friend of Julia's. 

This post is about a game that this particular friend, Julia, and a third friend made up way back in 1st grade.  This game was SUCH A HIT that even today, in 4th grade, they STILL play it together.  The game is called "Jusalil." 

Now, I'm sure that based on the name alone you already know exactly what this game is about.  But in case not, Julia will now dictate to me as I type an explanation of this fascinating pretend-play world.


"Okay.  So.  Jusalil is a game where we're crazy people, and we live in the inside of the earth.  And, so, our names are Teema, Jusalil, and Tala.  Also, Baby Britta is our younger sister.  And so, also, we have an adopted sister named Gawacka, but she's not really in it.  And our best friends names are City and Sophie and...I don't remember Teema's best friend's name.  City and Sophie normal people.  They live on the earth.  They live, like, normal people.  So, Jusalil and Britta are the only ones that are actually really part of that family.  Teema had to get adopted, because her parents couldn't take care of her or something, and Tala was adopted from rocks.  And also, one time Tala drowned so we had to make a NEW Tala.  And so that's why Tala is half-robotic  We also have Bobo-fliers that we use to get around.  You can get poisoned from human stuff, and if you do, you need, like, some special flower thing to help you get normal, and so, also, we call our mom and dad Madre and Fadre, and our real Madre and Fadre are stuck in a volcano, and so we have a fake Madre and Fadre that are HUMANS, and they want to poison us and get us to be humans.  So, Tala talks like a baby, but Teema and Jusalil don't have a weird voice, because they had a sickness that made their voices normal."

Of course, this explanation might prompt some questions, so luckily, I will offer a Q and A with Juila.

Q: How did Jusalil and Teema and Tala meet people who live on the regular part of the earth?
A: Teema and Tala and Jusalil have human suits, and they call them "umans" instead of "humans."  And the human suits protect them from being poisoned by anything human, so sometimes they can go into the human world, so they met those people and became friends with them.

Q: What's it like in the inside of the earth?
A: It has a lot of rocks, so that's why everyone eats, like, rock soup, and rock ice cream, and anything with rocks and leaves.  So, pretty much, it's just rocks, and ALSO, you have to praise the chicken mushroom.

Q: What the heck is the chicken mushroom?
A: I don't know.  'Cause I wasn't the person who made it up.  But I think it's just like a mushroom made out of chicken or something.  And it's very holy.

Q: Do Jusalil and the others in the inside of the earth speak English?
A: Yes, technically they do, but we call it "Jusalil language," so they say things backwards, like "brary-li" for "library," and "tor-doc" for "doctor," and, so, like, "yes" would mean "no," and "good" would mean "bad," and stuff like that.  And also, Tala is allergic to lemons, and we call them "mon-lems."

Q: How do City and Sophie understand Jusalil and Tala and Teema then?
A: Well, they can just understand them, sort of, but also, the Jusalil people CAN speak not in Jusalil language.

Q: What are Bobo fliers?
A: I don't really know, because I think that, like, half the time we just make things up and don't know what they are.  But I picture them just, like, small mini-airplanes that fly around.

Q: So, is the main premise of the game that Jusalil, Tala and Teema are in constant danger from their fake parents who are trying to poison them?
A: Sometimes.  But we pretend other things, besides just their parents trying to poison them.

Q: Are there any other people inside the earth besides the ones you mentioned?
A: Not really.  Because we don't really talk about other people from the inside of the earth.  So, probably.  But we pretend they don't exist.  Oh, wait.  There's Emmalia.  She's their friend who lives inside the earth.


This sounds like an extremely complex game.  Given the fact that it has been in the works for three years now, I imagine it has only become more intricate.  And let me tell you: it has expanded beyond the original three creators.  I have personally heard other kids from school mentioning the game, saying things like, "Oh, well at recess when we were playing Jusalil..." This may become a big thing, folks.  We're talking a movie franchise, or a book series, or something MAJOR some day.  When The Jusalil Chronicles hit the theatres 10 years from now, you readers can feel proud that you read the original story here first.