Operation Red Jericho by Joshua

¶ … Operation Red Jericho" by Joshua Mowll. Specifically it will explain the qualities and characteristics of both Rebecca (Becca) and Doug MacKenzie, and how each is suited to solving the mystery. "Operation Red Jericho" is an adventure tale of two children Rebecca and Doug MacKenzie that takes place in the Orient in the 1920s. The two young people turn out to be adventurers extraordinaire and they solve a mystery using their wits and clues they discover along their odd and bizarre journey.

The two characters, 15-year-old Becca and 13-year-old Doug, are orphans in that their parents have disappeared a year before the book opens, and they have shuffled from relative to relative since that time. Doug is intelligent but not very motivated, and he is a "freethinker" who does not trust convention. This helps him think "outside the box," which is an extremely good quality for solving complex mysteries, which the two characters manage to do in this unusual book. Becca is the serious one, who cares about appearances and records all of their adventures in her diary for posterity. She helps keep Doug grounded and on track throughout the book, and she also is musical and uses a German sword, which certainly helps in their self-defense and survival.

Doug is also analytical and scientific, which also helps him solve clues and follow long lost trails, as the author shows early in the book. He writes, "I'd like to discuss the state of the engines with the chief engineer, particularly the crankshafts'" (Mowll 11). Clearly, these are not ordinary children, and their characteristics make it more believable that they could solve this mystery and survive all the adventures they encounter because they are older than their years, have quick minds, and know how to evaluation, people, events, and situations so they can survive and thrive at the same time.

In addition, the children are used to being on their own and have developed many strengths in moving between relatives. They are quite self-efficient and sure of themselves, and they are fiercely independent. They have to be, because they are often alone, and so, they have learned not to be afraid and to welcome change. Becca tells the ship's Captain, "We were born in India and lived there just as long as the other countries. I liked them all. I see myself as a sum of all these places - Britain, America, India. I belong to nowhere in particular'" (Mowll 27). Clearly, these are not average children, but average children could not survive the adventures they will encounter, and that is why the author gives them extraordinary characteristics.

The children are extremely brave in the face of some of adventures they face, because they are independent but also because they are sure of themselves and their abilities. They never turn away from a situation, no matter how frightened they may be inside. The author notes, "Very quietly they advanced in single file. As they descended farther, Dough noticed that the air grew more humid and the walls of the tunnel smelled even worse. The passageways looked older again, and he retched as he tripped over the lower half of a human arm, the flesh gnawed by rats" (Mowll 181). The children are children, and there is no mistaking that, but their qualities help them along the way, and their character traits make them the best-suited type of children to survive in a daring book like this.