Christian Rios was transported Monday to the jungles of Central America, where he came face to face with a Mayan emperor - without leaving Wakefield Middle School. Christian, 13, and other eighth-graders at Wakefield, 101 W. 44th St., learned how books can take readers on unimagined adventures when the authors of "The Jaguar Stones, Book One: Middleworld," visited the school. Authors Jon and Pamela Voelkel got an assist from Principal Wade McRae, who dressed as Mayan Emperor Lord Six-Rabbit, a character in the first book of the trilogy.

"We were looking for ways to get kids to read," McRae said. "They see reading as a chore because they do it mostly for homework. We are trying to interest them in reading for fun."  In addition to the authors and the emperor, students were treated to a multimedia presentation that included the sights, sounds and tastes of the jungle.  "They served us fried worms, like people eat in the jungle," said Angel Avila, 14. "I was the first one to try them."

Wakefield has a large number of students whose first language is not English, and it's trying to boost its reading scores, said Josephine King, the school's instructional coach. The plan may work if other eighth-graders were as impressed as Krishna Modak, 14.  "We heard different sounds, we saw different people and cultures during the presentation," he said. "Now I want to know what happened to Max Murphy."  Max Murphy is the young Bostonian boy-hero of the Voelkels' books.

King was able to buy a copy of the book for each of the school's eighth-graders at a reduced price, but needs donations to buy books for other students.

Wakefield serves a predominantly low-income population. Almost all the students at Wakefield qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. "We need $4,300 to buy books for the rest of the children," King said. "This type of reading engages them."

Monday's presentation certainly whet Angel Avila's appetite - and not just for fried worms.  Now he wants to read the book to find out more about Max, who is about his age. "Reading a book like that is fun," he said. But reading is not just about fun, Angel said.  "You need to know how to read, even if you work for McDonald's. What if the meat is expired and you can't read and sell it to people?"