Deep [Hardcover]

Susanna Vance (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 2003

Nothing really bad has ever happened to Birdie. And she hates it! She needs drama, angst, torment–something to provide fodder for the amazing book she wants to write. When her parents take a yearlong sabbatical to the Caribbean, she gets her wish. . . .

Morgan is a child of the sea. Raised by nomadic Norwegian parents who encouraged her to chart her own course, and filled with sorrow after the water claims her older sister, she attempts to create a new life for herself in the warm waters of the tropics. But before she can do that, she needs papers that will keep the Coast Guard away, And there's only one person she knows who can help her. Tricky Nicky. Morgan knows he's a shyster. But what she doesn't know is that he's a maniacal killer.

Told in alternating points of view, Deep is a riveting story that will pull readers into its depths.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"I live in Oregon, I’m an only child, and I’m awesome. You probably know me: My name is Birdie Sidwell." "I live at sea, I am alone, and I am awestruck. You do not know me: my name is Morgan Bera." In alternating voices, two wildly different girls share the story of one incredible adventure in Susanna Vance’s quirky, absorbing follow-up to her 2001 original debut, Sights. Spectacularly spoiled 13-year-old Birdie is the treasured only child of older, academic parents who have decided to take a year off from their hectic schedules to travel the Caribbean. Somber 17-year-old Morgan has been raised on the ocean by a pair of unconventional Norwegian sailors, who have of late surrendered to the siren call of alcoholism as consolation for the accidental drowning of Morgan’s older sister. These two opposites, light and dark, shallow and deep, come together when naive Birdie is kidnapped by a charming but utterly ruthless modern-day pirate named Nicholas. Only Morgan, with her folkloric knowledge of the sea, guided by the spirit of her dead sister, has the intuition and wisdom to save Birdie. It will take all of Morgan’s intelligence, paired with Birdie’s charisma, to overcome Nicholas’s murderous intentions and bring the girls home. Susanna Vance’s delightfully eccentric brand of storytelling is a cross between Dorothy Parker and Monty Python, with a little Faulkner southern gothic thrown in. At once bizarrely strange and warmly familiar, Deep will continue to resound with teen readers long after the last page is turned. (Ages 12 to 15) --Jennifer Hubert

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-8-Two totally dissimilar girls meet under extreme circumstances. Birdie, 13, is the coddled only child of highly educated professionals living in a small town in Oregon. Morgan, 16, is the only surviving child of a couple who dropped out of life in Norway to sail the seven seas in a small clipper. Both teens become the prey of a handsome, charismatic psychopath based on a small private island in the Caribbean and must team up to save their lives. Alternating first-person chapters provide ample evidence of their contrasting temperaments and experiences. Birdie is voluble and expansive-sometimes to the brink of tedium. Morgan is matter-of-fact and affects emotional detachment. Birdie has known little trouble in her life; she occasionally suffers severe asthma attacks, but otherwise she has existed swathed in the cocoon of her parents' love and attention. Morgan's baby brother was stillborn at sea, her beloved older sister drowned-swept overboard by a giant wave-and her parents have lapsed so deeply into alcoholism that Morgan has taken their boat and abandoned them in desperation. Their individual trajectories to the crude wooden cage wedged in an abandoned well in which they are imprisoned make for interesting reading. However, they pale next to the descriptions of the teens' interaction once they are together and the taut, suspenseful story of their escape. This adventure will keep readers turning the pages to see what happens next.
Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (May 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385730578
• ISBN-13: 978-0385730570
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,585,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deep, May 9, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Deep (Hardcover)

Deep

By: Susanna Vance

Picture this, a beautiful island known as a Cook Island named Calista. Its small, only a 30 minute walk all the way around, not even big enough to be found on a map. In the middle, off the ocean shore, is a dense forest. It's the place you read about in fairy tales, where the sun always rises and sets perfectly. The only problem is that a mysterious man who thinks he is in charge of everything owns it, but could that really ruin it all?

Ask a 13-year-old red head named Birdwinkle Sidwell or Birdie. Follow her as she takes you on an adventure you will never forget, that all begins when she travels to the Caribbean for one year of her life. Birdie is a normal teenage girl who wants to be an author but has a problem. Nothing amazingly interesting has ever happened to her so she has nothing to fill the pages of her book with. She wishes for something more exciting, something bigger, something to make a best seller and all of that comes true in an unexpected way.

Morgan Bera was born to the one true thing she loves, the endless sea. She fears land and what it seems to do to the people who live on it or even visit it. Morgan's strength and courage is the only thing keeping her going in life. After Morgan and her parents go their separate ways she is in search of someone to give her "official" papers so her beloved Svanhild would finally become hers, but her sense of ocean laws leads her on an adventure that will change her life forever.

Nicholas the Australian shows you the true meaning of a man with two faces. Is that sweet man really a fake though or is it all just your imagination. I mean, isn't he just an innocent Australian man that had the misfortune of some terrible accident? Judge for yourself as his character unravels before your eyes.

What about that popular girl though? That always seems to have her life together. What is her life really about? Well she gets Nudelized into this perfect little princess by her mom and the evil man himself. She tries to hold on to her true self and tries to stay the person that was once Birdie's best friend but will she?

The author, Susanna Vance's writing style captivates your attention throughout every page. Getting inside Birdie and Morgan's heads (as they switch off narrating the story) allows your emotions to change as well as your opinion about Nicholas's true heart to change as theirs do. The book places you on the island as well not watching form afar.

This book is not only about a struggle to survive but also a struggle to hang onto yourself and your character. As unsuspecting victim's lives get turned upside down what happens to them and does the duck ever drown?

Deep really keeps you thinking about tomorrow and what it brings. It is definitely a page-turner that teaches you the true importance of life and everything else. Be careful what you wish for, it just might come true in an unexpected way!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Voted best book for teens., December 22, 2003

By 

Charla Oberton (Midland, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep (Hardcover)

At our school, Deep was voted best book for teens. It was recommended by the librarian at the Booktalk assembly and a lot of us tried it. It's the first book I ever read that I literarally couldn't stop. I liked Morgan best, the way she could do everything better than a guy, but a lot of friends liked Birdy. I get that too. I give Deep as many stars as you have.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teen Girls Must Read!, September 28, 2005

By 

gotigers (Versailles, Oh) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep (Hardcover)

A thirteen year old girl named Birdie, which lives in the tiny, wet, town of Riverton, goes on vacation with her parents. While on vacation she gets kidnapped.

Read this book to see if Birdie is ever joined again with her family.

I enjoyed a lot about this book. The book was very suspenseful. I didn't know what was going to happen next. Every paragraph had you sitting on the edge of your seat. This book was so good, that it was hard for me to put it down. Even though I usually don't read books that much, if I don't have to.

There was only one thing that I remember disliking about this book, and that was that around the last two or three chapters, there is two people telling the story. I got a little confused.

I would recommend this book to any teen girl that cries while reading a book. (I cried).