Deep Water

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade adventure
• Originally Published: 2018
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 720L; grades 6-8
• Structure/Length: 50 chapters; 288 pages; approximately 4 hours, 40 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: The novel centers around Julie Sims, a 12-year-old girl with a passion for scuba diving. Julie loves helping her father in his dive business, but when a deep water dive she is guiding for wealthy clients goes awry, she must help them to survive in the shark-infested waters.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Perilous situations; shark attacks; survival scenes; some violence; death of parent

Watt Key, Author

• Bio: Born 1970; American author of young adult and middle grade fiction; known for his adventure stories set in the outdoors; graduate of Birmingham-Southern College; also worked as a computer programmer and in medical software sales
• Other Works: Alabama Moon (2006); Dirt Road Home (2010); Fourmile (2012); Terror at Bottle Creek (2016)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

• Resilience and Discipline
• The Unyielding Force of Nature
• Family Relationships

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Teaching Guide, students will:

• Gain an understanding of the scientific and social aspects of scuba diving that drive the action and overarching conflict Julie faces.
• Read paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Resilience and Discipline, The Unyielding Force of Nature, and Family Relationships.