Daughter of the Deep

See the official book trailer below! 

"Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan | Book Trailer." Youtube, uploaded by Puffin Books, 5 Oct. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C_QLseiRjg

Summary 

The main characters are Ana Dakkar, her brother Dev, Ester Harding, Gemini Twain, and Nelinha da Silva, all of whom are students at Harding-Pencroft Academy, an intense and marine-focused high school. There, they are training to become some of the world’s best marine scientists, navigators and underwater explorers— basically, anything and everything having to do with underwater science and exploration. 

Not far into the novel, Ana and her classmates are attacked by a rival academy, the Land Institute, while attending their end-of-year trials. It’s revealed that the two schools are actually in the middle of a decade-old war over Captain Nemo’s technology. Ana and her friends then find themselves in the middle of a major conflict, fighting for both their Academy and the technology that is quite literally Ana's and her brother’s birthright. 

Windows and Mirrors

Both Ana and Dev are Indian. They are descendants of Captain Nemo, originally known as Prince Dakkar of Bundelkhand, India. The book features a number of Hindu customs and elements, such as Ana’s possession of her mother’s mangalsutra, a beaded thread placed around a bride’s neck by her husband on their nuptials. Without giving too much away — I can say that a key plot element later in the novel is Ana and Dev’s ancestral language, Bundeli. 

Ester Harding is described as bookish and due to an anxiety disorder, is most often joined by her support dog, Top. Ester is also the first of Riordan’s characters who is autistic. Anyone who has read the Percy Jackson series may find parallels in how Riordan has written Ester's character; while much of modern media still treats disorders as a weakness, Riordan's characters instead show how they can be a strength. 

Similarly, Gemini Twain is the first of Riordan’s characters to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, otherwise known as the Mormon Church. Nelinha da Silva, a longtime friend of both Ester and Ana, is a Brazillian student attending Harding-Pencroft Academy on a scholarship. She grew up as a homeless orphan in Rio. 

A discussion about the book on the Read Riordan website explains that students at Harding Pencroft academy “are judged by their merit, not their background. Because if things start to go south, it’s not going to be your money and influence that will keep you alive on treacherous waters. It’s going to be equal parts talent, nerve, and cooperation” (Read Riordan). 

The five most prominent characters in Riordan’s Daughter of the Deep can all serve as windows and mirrors for different marginalized groups. As the book progresses, there are ample opportunities for young readers to learn about the characters and their different backgrounds and beliefs. Additionally, each character plays a crucial role in terms of teamwork and their combined success, and each individual is crucial to the story. Having representation like gives children and young readers an accurate portrayal of the diverse reality of the world around them and heroes that they can look up to as they discover exactly how they fit into that world. 

Sources

Riordan, Rick. “The View from the 600th Floor.” Rick Riordan, 9 Dec. 2021, https://rickriordan.com/2021/12/the-view-from-the-600th-floor/. 

“Spotlight on Nelinha Da Silva.” Read Riordan, 10 Nov. 2021, https://www.readriordan.com/2021/11/10/daughter-of-the-deep-spotlight-on-nelinha-da-silva/. 

“Did You Know the Significance of Mangalsutra?” Stylery , 14 Oct. 2021, https://www.candere.com/blog/did-you-know-the-significance-of-mangalsutra.html.