"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