Operation Red Jericho

Operation Red Jericho by Joshua Mowll is a youth adventure book. I recently read it and found it to be very enjoyable as well as quite creative. There are several aspects of this book to take into account. First there is the physical book itself. It is a hardback book in the style of a Moleskine notebook complete with an elastic band to keep it closed. Inside the book there are fold out maps, charts, diagrams, and pictures. It is well constructed and very inventive. Ok, so the book itself is pretty cool, what about the story. It is a good story that moves along at a good clip. The story takes place in 1920 follow a brother and sister as they seek to understand what has happened to their parents who have disappeared. They join their mysterious uncle on his boat and fall into some adventures involving Chinese pirates, submarines, exotic science, an American aviator, a tiger, a sect of Chinese warriors, a secret guild of scientists and explorers (called the Guild of Specialists) and much more. The conceit of the book is that it is taken from one of the hero's notes in 2002 and so has a lot of additional materials. These extra materials are in the form of the foldouts I mentioned above as well as other pictures, diagrams, and explanations. This allows for information to be given to the reader without an artificial break in the action to explain something to the heroes just so the reader has the information. It works very well. Many chapters begin with a journal entry from Becca (one of the heroes) and goes into the narrative. As is common with this type of story character development is kept to a minimum for the sake of action. What is uncommon is that the adults are important to the story and usually do the real heavily lifting of the work. Often in these type of stories the adult world is separate from the kid world. The kids are along for the ride and do contribute but the adults are an important part of the story. The kids are intelligent, but not overly so. The kids are disobedient (as is usual in this type of story or nothing would ever happen) but they also face consequences for the actions, though not lasting. There is the modern feminist viewpoint that there is no real difference between men and women (or boys and girls) in any ability. I understand how Joshua (or his publisher) would like to have this in the story so that girls and boys both are able to identify with the heroes, and it is not overstated so it does not detract from the story. This is the first book of a trilogy and I look forward to reading the other two. The good:

• The physical book with its charts, maps, etc. is very engaging.
• The story is interesting.
• The story moves at a brisk pace and is not too predictable.
• It does a good job of trying to paint the period of the 1920s.
• Adults are not just props but important to the story, the kids inhabit their world, not just visit it.

The bad:

• The characters tend to be one dimensional. The good guys are good, the bad guys bad with very little in the way of gray areas.
• The kids don't really understand the concept of obedience.
• There is the common feminist outlook that there is no difference between the abilities of men and women. But it is not overdone.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading the other two in the series. 4 out of 5 stars.

Update 10/6/06: The next book of the series "Operation Typhoon Shore" is scheduled to be published 10/24/06. You can preorder from Amazon at this link: Preorder Operation Typhoon Shore