Up from Jericho Tel [School & Library Binding]

E. L. Konigsburg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1998 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Jeanmarie Troxell and Malcolm Soo are both bossy, both latchkey children, and both want to be famous.
It is Tallulah, the aged -- and somewhat dead -- actress they meet under the small hill they have called Jericho Tel, who tells them that it takes three things to make a star. It is also Tallulah who sends them into a state of invisibility and on an errand. They are to find the necklace containing the famous Regina Stone, which someone took from around her neck just after she died and just before her soul left her body.

While they are invisible, Malcolm and Jeanmarie meet some street performers who were friends of Tallulah's and who were present when she died. There is Nicolai Ion Simonescu, the ventriloquist who was in love with Emmagene Krebs, the sweet young folk singer who had eighteen thousand songs to sing. Did Nicolai take the necklace to bankroll his successful puppet business? Or did Patrick Henry Mermelstein, the truly klutzy magician, who now has a profitable record shop? Or did the butler do it?

Before they find The Regina Stone, Malcolm and Jeanmarie learn two of the three things it takes to make a star. But the secret of the third ingredient of stardom is hidden with the secret of The Regina Stone. And before they can find both, Malcolm and Jeanmarie must have courage enough to make their invisible selves visible.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Konigsburg delivers a witty, fast-paced story of two likable, headstrong children, who encounter the ghost of an old actress. Jeanmarie and Malcolm are plummeted into the magic underground world of flamboyant, red-haired, cigarette-puffing Tallulah. Tallulah sets them a series of tasks righting wrongs on earth (including exposing a phony faith healer by exposing him, in one of the book's funniest scenes), and making them invisible in order to perform these works. The tasks lead, in fine fairy-tale fashion, to the one big task, and then to the rewardin this case, realizing their talents and finding the courage to let them emerge. The dialogue is sharp and funny, the characters pleasing and Tallulah is a pip. And although Konigsburg is not didactic, it seems clear that with all this talk of magic, the real magic is the discovery of one another by two lonely chidren, and the loving friendship that ensues.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9 "There was a time when I was eleven years old. . .when I was invisible," begins Jeanmarie Troxell, future star and heroine of Konigsburg's humorous fantasy, which is set on Long Island in the early 1970s. Feeling invisible at her new school, Jeanmarie makes friends with Malcolm Soo, also a loner, over the burial of a dead blue jay. Digging in the earth mound they call Jericho Tel, they are whisked underground by Tallulah, the ghost of a red-haired actress, who wants them to discover her missing diamond. Now made truly invisible by Tallulah's Orgone box, they begin a search which leads to some very odd people, as well as to self-discovery and deeper friendship. By the time The Regina Stone is found, Jeanmarie has gained the confidence to shed her "invisibility" at school and try out for her first play. Konigsburg excels at creating unusual characters. She is less successful at tying her fantasy to the real world; there seems no particular "rightness" in Tallulah being reached through a hole in the ground in a trailer park. However, the wry humor of Jeanmarie and Malcolm's invisible adventures among Tallulah's old theatrical friends is worth the mental leap necessary to get there. Each chapter ends with one of Tallulah's maxims, such as "a child actor is a vacuum that Nature has every right to abhor." Ruth S. Vose, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• School & Library Binding: 192 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback Books: A Division of Sanval (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613111966
• ISBN-13: 978-0613111966
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,955,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

E. L. Konigsburg is the only author to have won the Newbery Medal and be runner-up in the same year. In 1968 From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler won the Newbery Medal and Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth was named Newbery Honor Book. Almost thirty years later she won the Newbery Medal once again for The View From Saturday. She has also written and illustrated three picture books: Samuel Todd's Book of Great Colors, Samuel Todd's Book of Great Inventions, and Amy Elizabeth Explores Bloomingdale's. In 2000 she wrote Silent to the Bone, which was named a New York Times Notable Book and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, among many other honors.

After completing her degree at Carnegie Mellon University, Ms. Konigsburg did graduate work in organic chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. For several years she taught science at a private girls' school. When the third of her three children started kindergarten, she began to write. She now lives on the beach in North Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, September 1, 2004

By 

Rosy "rose" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up From Jericho Tel (Paperback)

I always feel that the characters are real--Jeanmarie, Malcolm and Tallulah!! What a wonderful story. So sweet. Witty. Provoking. I really love it.
Whether you're a girl or a boy ( or a future scientist or future actress), you would do very well to treat yourself to this book. HIGHLY recommended.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quotable quotations at the beginning of every chapter, June 14, 2003

By 

Lemas Mitchell "Libertarian/ Empiricist" (Hunan Changsha) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Up From Jericho Tel (Paperback)

I read this book years ago, and still find that its quotable quotations have come up in many relevant situations. The full wit of these quotations only came up years later.

In fact, they are the single best reason for picking up this book.

Examples below:

"Good explanations are like bathing suits: Meant to reveal everytying by covering only what's necessary."

"Never have a long conversation with anyone who says 'between you and I.'"

"The light bulb and the telephone were invented by men who knew how to make them work without knowing why. I believe that's the way people should raise children."

"Exercise is good for the heart, the lungs, and the unemployed."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing book for kids and adults, January 27, 2009

By 

G. A. (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Up From Jericho Tel (Paperback)

I absolutely ADORED this book the first time I read it, in elementary school, and have come back to it again and again. It gets better every time I think. Part who-done-it, part showbiz tell all, it's completely enjoyable and a great read. Highly recommended.