Middleworld by Voelkel

Middleworld by Voelkel

As I see it, said Max, all that stands between humankind and the end of the world is two talking monkeys, a crazy archaeologist covered in red paint, and a couple of kids with blowguns. Am I right?

Fourteen-year-old Max Murphy, video-gamer extraordinaire, is furious when his archaeologist parents cancel the family vacation to go on a dig in Central America. But things go from bad to worse when Max is summoned to join them, only to discover that his parents have vanished. With the help of Lola, a fast-talking, quick-thinking Maya girl, Max embarks on a quest to find out just what's going on. Soon Max and Lola are running for their lives in the perilous rainforest, as they unlock ancient secrets, meet mysterious strangers, and begin to understand that, in San Xavier, nothing is ever as it seems.

Fate has delivered a challenge of epic proportions to Max Murphy. But can a teen whose biggest talent is for video games rescue his parents from the Maya Underworld and save himself from the villainous Lords of Death?

Jon and Pamela (J&P) Voelkel are the author-illustrators of the Jaguar Stones books, a series of Maya-themed adventures set in present-day Central America. The fast-paced, funny stories center on the friendship between a city boy and a jungle girl--

a mirror image of Jon's wild childhood in Latin America and Pamela's altogether tamer upbringing in an English seaside town. The Voelkels met while working at a London advertising agency and now live in Vermont.

To research the Jaguar Stones, they have explored over forty Maya sites in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico; canoed down underground rivers; tracked howler monkeys in the jungle; and eaten live termites for breakfast. Jon's most frightening experience was getting lost in a pitch-black labyrinth under a Maya pyramid. Pamela's most frightening experience was being interviewed by Al Roker on Today.