Jumper

The opening pages of Jumper are especially violent, with Davey being assaulted by his abusive father and then enduring a narrow escape from a gang rape at a truck stop. The level of violence drops significantly after those first chapters, but later in the book, a woman is killed in a plane hijacking. He seeks vengeance against the man responsible, but also begins to question whether he should be allowed to take a life for a life.

A boy loses his virginity and embarks on a serious romantic relationship with his slightly older girlfriend. Their relationship is one of mutual respect, and they practice safe sex (which is not describe in any clinical detail).

The language in Jumper is strong, but not gratuitous. There are multiple uses of "damn," "hell, "s--t," and "piss," as well as perhaps a dozen instances of "f--k." Characters sometimes use "God" and "Jesus" as exclamations.

Because of his experience with his alcoholic father, Davey is a near tee-totaler, though he does bring a magnum of champagne to a hometown party and later has cocktails with his older girlfriend.

Parents need to know that Jumper is a fast-paced science fiction adventure about a 17-year-old boy learning to use his ability to teleport. The opening chapters are unsettling -- featuring a beating by a parent and an attempted rape by a stranger -- but the level of violence decreases significantly, at least until a subplot about a terrorist hijacking, in which a woman is killed. Davy's father is an alcoholic, but Davy is a near-teetotaler. The book's language is realistic but can be rough, with multiple uses of "damn," "hell, "s--t," and "piss," as well as perhaps a dozen instances of "f--k."