3 Questions with Pamela and Jon Voelkel
March 2, 2015 by lisalisabookjam
As part of our mission to promote authors, the joy of reading, and to help independent booksellers, The Book Jam has paired with the The Norwich Bookstore in Norwich, Vermont to present an ongoing series entitled “3 Questions”. In it, we pose three questions to authors with upcoming visits to the bookstore. (We have a rotating list of six possible questions to ask just to keep things interesting.) Their responses are posted on The Book Jam during the week leading up to their engagement. Our hope is that this exchange will offer insight into their work, will encourage readers to attend these special author events, and ultimately, will inspire some great reading.
Our first “3 questions” in 2015 features
Pamela and Jon Voelkel and their latest book,
Jaguar Stones: The Lost City, Book Four of their Jaguar Stones series for middle grade readers. In this outing, 14-year-old Max Murphy waits in his uncle’s house for his parents’ release from a Latin American jail, when he is forced into yet another scheme of the Maya Death Lords. He heads to the United States with Lola, his Mayan friend from the previous books, on a quest where failure could mean the end of the world… again.
The Voelkels will be visiting the
Norwich Bookstore from 1 to 3 pm on Saturday, March 7th to discuss
Jaguar Stones: The Lost City. This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required, you need only to show up for a lot of fun with these two interesting authors. Call 802-649-1114 or email
info@norwichbookstore.com for additional information. And now, the “3 questions”.
1) If you could give your own book award to an outstanding title you read last year, what would it be?
Pamela: The award is for “Book That Most Consistently Kept 5th-Grader Up Way Too Late On School Nights Because She And Her Mother Always Wanted To Read Just One More Chapter”. And it goes to
Liar And Spy by
Rebecca Stead. Or to
When You Reach Me by the same author. They were both responsible for way too many hours of lost sleep.
2) What three books would you re-read if you had the time to do so?
Jon: When I was growing up in Colombia, the old lady next door used to shout at my brother and I to be quiet when we played in the back yard. It only made us louder. One day, in an inspired change of tactics, she dumped a cardboard box of books on our doorstep. They were old and out of print, but three of them became the favorite books of my childhood:
The Road to Miklagard by Henry Treece,
The Old Breton Fort, and
The Fish, the Knife & Bobby Magee. I don’t know who wrote the last two, but if I could get my hands on those three books, I would love to re-read them. (Book Jam note: These are all out of print, so we can not link to them, but the
Norwich Bookstore would be happy to try to find them for you.)
3) What three authors would you invite to a dinner party?
Pamela and Jon: Working on the Jaguar Stones books has filled our heads with stories from the Golden Age of Maya archaeology. Our dinner guests would be three authors who blazed new trails in the jungles of Central America. Jon would invite John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, two daring explorers who brought the ancient Maya to the attention of the world. Their book Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatán – written by Stephens and illustrated by Catherwood – tells the story of their extraordinary adventures. It was a huge bestseller in its day and is still required reading for Mayanists. To the same dinner, Pamela would invite Alice Dixon Le Plongeon, a photographer’s daughter who, in 1873, left the comforts of London far behind to live in the ruins of Uxmal with her much older and fearsomely bearded husband, the eccentric Augustus Le Plongeon. Inspired by a jade artifact she discovered, Alice wrote the dreadful novel Queen Moo’s Talisman, which I don’t recommend you read. Do however seek out her biography Yucatan Through Her Eyes, which contains extracts from her diary and her amazing early photographs of Uxmal and Chichen Itza.
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Posted in Kids at Heart, Meet the Author | Tagged Alice Dixon Le Plongeon, Chiapas and Yucatán, Children's Book Series, Frederick Catherwood, Henry Treece, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Jaguar Stones, Jaguar Stones: The Lost City, John Lloyd Stephens, Jon Voelkel, Liar And Spy, Norwich, Norwich Bookstore, Pamela Voelkel, Queen Moo's Talisman, Rebecca Stead, The Fish the Knife & Bobby Magee, The Lost City, The Old Breton Fort, The Road to Miklagard, When You Reach Me, Yucatan Through Her Eyes | Leave a Comment
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