I wanted to share the press release for J&P Voelkel's official launch of The Jaguar Stones, Book Two: The End of the World Club (Egmont, 2010) at Washington, DC bookstore Politics and Prose, because it sounds like so much fun.  I haven't read The End of the World Club yet (the title refers to the Mayan prophecy about the year 2012), but I did enjoy the first book in the series, Middleworld (a Cybils nominee in MG SFF last year).  I especially appreciated the Mayan theme; while The Jaguar Stones books are fantasy, they are rooted in Mayan beliefs and traditions (the authors include a glossary and information about the Mayan cosmos and calendar in the back matter.  Also a recipe for chicken tamales!).  I think I'll like the second book even better, given that it's set in Spain and involves lots of poking around castles and monasteries.  Check out Charlotte's review of The End of the World Club at Charlotte's Library.  And the press release:

Authors and Adventure Travelers Jon and Pamela Voelkel
BRING MAYA CULTURE AND HISTORY TO LIFE ON JANUARY 18 AT
Politics and Prose

WHAT: Authors Jon and Pamela Voelkel traveled with their three children across Central America to over twenty Maya sites across Belize, Guatemala and Mexico, canoeing underground rivers, tracking howler monkeys in the jungle, and visiting catacombs and underground temples as part of their research on Maya culture. These adventures made it into the first book of The Jaguar Stones trilogy, Middleworld. The book received rave reviews and was featured on the “Today” show as an Al Roker’s Book Club for Kids pick.

Now the Voelkels, fully adorned in their safari gear, are back with the second book in the series, The End of the World Club, and their travels through Spain inspired the adventures that fill these pages. Their family visited monasteries with guided tours of its secret passageways from the monks that live there, trekked through graveyards filled with human bones and even participated in La Tomatina, a festival in which participants throw tomatoes at each other in the streets.
 
The Voelkels’ fast-paced and exciting presentation for The End of the World Club includes real life stories of survival, tips if you are ever lost in the jungle, tales of their adventures in Central America and Spain, an explanation on whether the world will end in 2012 and a signing in Mayan Glyphs.
 
WHO: Jon Voelkel and Pamela Craik Voelkel
authors of THE JAGUAR STONES, BOOK TWO: THE END OF THE WORLD CLUB
WHEN: Tuesday, January 18 at 10:30am
WHERE: Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC

[Me again.]  A signing in Mayan glyphs?  Impressive!