Authors of "The Jaguar Stones" Visit Groton's Cutler Middle School

First, the authors asked the kids to think of the most disgusting thing they'd ever eaten.

Then Jon and Pamela Voelkel showed the sixth graders slides of bugs and worms in Central America. Then they suggested perhaps a couple of teachers might try a fried worm. And out came the plate.

“Eewww,” shrieked a student.

“Can I try one?” said another.

The Voelkels are authors of The Jaguar Stones, they're traveling to schools in at least ten states, and they've appeared on the Today show.  On Thursday, they were at Carl C. Culter Middle School in Groton to talk about their books, the Maya civilization, the Rainforest and the freedom to read.

“I thought it was really cool,” said Elias Arredondo, 12. “I liked the bugs they showed on the screen.” He also tried a fried worm.

“It tasted like a potato chip,” he said.

Book one, Middleworld,  is about a 14-year-old boy who follows his parents to an archaeological dig in Central America, only to learn they’ve disappeared. The boy is left to figure out what really happened.

Jon Voelkel grew up in Central and South America, traveled through the jungle and visited ancient ruins, experiences reflected in much of his writing.

He told the kids he also wanted to play in a rock band, and as part of the lesson, he pulled out his electric guitar. At one point, he had a half dozen sixth graders in the school’s media center jamming with him on plastic guitars.

Wyatt Lamb, 12, said he hasn’t read the books, but after hearing the lesson Thursday, he might check them out.

Johnathan Bied, 11, liked the author’s discussion of snakes. “Snakes don’t really creep me out,” he said. “Spiders do.”

Pamela Voelkel grew up in England, in a quiet town where little happened. Her mother was sick and she couldn’t leave home much, so Voelkel turned to books for adventure. Eventually, she went to London where she met her husband, and together they began writing The Jaguar Stones. The couple now lives in Vermont.

She told the children not to take reading, writing and books for granted, but to tell their own stories.

“Just write it all down” she said. “Don’t tell me you can’t write. Everyone can. Just sit back and watch the story in your head.”

“Remember, the story of your childhood is not the story of your life. You get to write the story of your life.”