The Jericho River: A Novel About The History of Western Civilization has something for everyone. Author David W. Tollen uses his creative prowess to teach history to young adult readers in a most clever way–by turning learning into an adventure story. With a ragtag crew of interesting characters–some modern, others ancient and a few magical — the group travels throughout time in search of answers. The novel is packed with action, romance, history and fantasy. The Jericho River includes drawings and lots of historical facts and footnotes. The plot moves rapidly, which will keep readers engaged, but unfortunately feels quite rushed towards the book’s ending. While the story also leaves several loose ends, The Jericho River is a good tale from a passionate writer and history aficionado.
This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Cadence Group
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 10 religious exclamations; 4 mild obscenities; 2 religious profanities; 1 derogatory name; 2 anatomical terms.
Violence/Gore: Frequent verbal threats and implied occurrences of violence; frequent secondhand reports of violence involving murder, beatings and the story of Jason and the Argo; a few brief scenes of fantasy violence; multiple scenes of violence include punching, fighting, hitting, binding and capturing someone, and animal sacrifice; a few non-detailed scenes of violent death include 9/11 and slitting a man’s throat; a few brief scenes of blood and gore including a dead body and a main character murdering another character; a scene of intense violence includes a physical fight.
Sex/Nudity Several incidents of kissing; a few non-sexual depictions of nudity during pagan rituals and while describing magical creatures; several sexual references including a mention of porn stars, brothels and concubines; a man alludes to desiring a sexual encounter with a teenage boy and the boy later worries about this proposition; an incident of touching and caressing between two teenagers; several reported incidents of sexual activity including a man attempting to rape a young woman who professes her virginity; a brief scene including nudity of a magical creature that attracts the gaze of other magical creatures; a brief mention of a magical creature propositioning a child.
Mature Subject Matter:
Death of family members and friends, physical abuse and violence, war, murder, slavery, 9/11, kidnapping, attempted rape, sexual propositions and fear of molestation, allusion to homosexual relationships, mention of magical creatures being sexual predators, mention of a character’s virginity, discussion of world religions, underage drinking.
Alcohol / Drug Use:
Underage drinking; mention of character’s mother dying due to a drunk driver; a brief party scene where adults are drinking.
