Up from Jericho Tel is a book aimed at 4th-6th graders written and illustrated by E. L. Konigsburg

E. L. Konigsburg

Elaine Lobl Konigsburg is an American author and illustrator of children's books and young adult fiction. She is one of five authors to win two Newbery Medals, awarded annually for one contribution to American children's literature.Her first two manuscripts were submitted to editor Jean E...

. It was published by Atheneum in 1986 and republished by Aladdin Paperbacks in November 1998.. It was the "Booklist Editor's Choice" and "Notable Children's Trade Book Language".

Plot summary

It's about an eleven-year-old girl, Jeanmarie Troxell, and a boy, Malcolm Soo, who bury dead animals in a "graveyard" they make out of an abandoned place with many trees behind their trailer park. One day they find a dog who they think deserves a very special plot in the "cemetery", so they find the exact center of the yard and start digging, but they suddenly fall down into a hole that leads to a dead woman, former movie star Tallulah, and her dog (the dead dog they found on the street). She sends them on missions for special people and things, especially her lost necklace, the Regina Stone, but always for a pack of cigarettes. On their way, they find more than just objects. They find the meaning of friendship and what it takes to be a star.