What This Book Is About
Caden Bosch is fifteen, and his story is told in two registers at once. In one he is a high school student whose own thoughts are turning against him, and then a patient at a hospital called Seaview. In the other he is aboard a ship sailing for the deepest point on Earth, the Challenger Deep at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, under a captain who would not be out of place in Moby-Dick.
The two voyages are one descent, into schizophrenia, and the novel moves between them without stopping to explain itself. Neal Shusterman wrote it out of the experience of his son Brendan, who drew the illustrations that run through the book. It won the 2015 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
Available at Popular bookstores, Kinokuniya, and the Singapore National Library.
Why We Recommend This Book
Challenger Deep destigmatizes mental illness by depicting it from the inside—not as a clinical condition to be studied from a distance, but as a lived experience rendered in vivid, artistic prose. For UWC students, many of whom face intense academic and social pressures, understanding mental health is not abstract but personal.
The novel's dual-reality structure is also a sophisticated literary device that challenges students to track parallel narratives and decode symbolism—skills that are directly applicable to IB English literary analysis. The collaboration between father (writer) and son (illustrator) adds a moving meta-narrative about family, creativity, and the courage to share one's story.
Reading Level Guide
Challenging at B1. Build confidence with B1-level books first, then return to this.
Perfect difficulty. Challenging enough to grow, accessible enough to enjoy.
Comfortable read at C1. Great for pleasure reading or thematic exploration.
Other UWC Recommended Books for This Grade
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