Linda Soules Releases 'So You Want To Be A Deep Sea Diver,' a Science-First Career Guide for Ages 10 to 14

Author Linda Soules has released So You Want To Be A Deep Sea Diver: A Kids' Guide to Deep Sea Diving, Underwater Exploration, Ocean Mysteries, and the Daring Divers Who Discover What Lies Beneath the Waves, a 38-page illustrated nonfiction book for readers ages 10 to 14. The book is available now at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766317. It follows the career path of a commercial and scientific deep sea diver, from a child's first curiosity about the ocean through open water certification, advanced training and saturation diving. It also covers the most demanding underwater work in the field. The title has won the Literary Titan Gold Book Award, the Grand Prize in the 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, and the Silver Award in Children's Nonfiction at the 2026 CIPA EVVY Book Awards.

Career-exploration books for middle-grade readers often stay at the surface of their subjects. They tend to list job titles, show a few photographs and move on. Deep sea diving is a poor fit for that approach, because the work is defined by physics, physiology and procedure. Pressure changes what the human body can tolerate. The gas a diver breathes at depth can decide whether the dive is survivable. Decompression is a requirement, not an option. Soules built the book around those constraints rather than around them, on the premise that readers in the 10-to-14 range are old enough to handle the real explanation. Most of the ocean remains unseen by human eyes, and the divers who work at the greatest depths operate in places almost no one has been.

The book is organized as a progression. It begins with the pull many young readers feel toward the deep ocean and moves through the steps a person would take to turn that interest into a profession. Those steps include open water certification, advanced dive training, and the specialized methods used for deep and prolonged work, including saturation techniques. From there it moves to the operations at the far end of the field: underwater welding, construction, salvage, scientific research and marine exploration, all carried out in conditions most people cannot picture. Each stage is presented as a distinct level of skill and responsibility, so readers can see how the career is built rather than simply what it looks like at the end.

A central section is devoted to the science. The book explains how pressure acts on the human body, why the wrong gas mixture at depth can be fatal, and how decompression keeps divers alive on the way back up. It also describes what it means to live in a pressurized chamber for weeks while working hundreds of meters below the surface. According to the book's description, these are not simplified facts stripped of their meaning. They are the actual physics and physiology, presented clearly and honestly. The approach treats the underlying mechanisms as the interesting part of the story, and it gives readers vocabulary and concepts they can carry into school science classes or later dive training.

The book also describes the environment divers enter and the people who make each descent possible. Readers encounter a setting of crushing cold and near-total darkness, along with the strange deep sea creatures and ocean animals that live where sunlight never reaches. Beyond the divers themselves, the book profiles the roles of dive supervisors, saturation technicians and support crews, whose coordination underpins every operation. It gives particular attention to emergencies at depth, which can only be resolved in slow motion because panic costs lives. That emphasis on composure, discipline and teamwork presents deep diving as a profession of procedure and judgment, not simply of daring.

The book is part of the So You Want To Be A… series, whose stated philosophy is to never talk down to young readers. Here that principle shows up as a willingness to be honest about difficulty and specific about science. The book does not present diving as effortless adventure. It describes the training, the risk and the discipline the work requires, and it assumes the reader can handle that information. The description frames the book as respectful of a young reader who feels drawn to something most people will never experience. That tone distinguishes it from entry-level ocean books that favor a tour of sea life over an account of how humans actually work at depth.

"Kids ask real questions about the deep ocean, and they deserve real answers about pressure, gas and decompression, not a watered-down version," said Linda Soules, author of the So You Want To Be A… series.

The book is written for readers ages 10 to 14, and the series notes that its audience extends beyond that range. A young reader already interested in scuba or marine science can use it to see where certification leads and how far the career can go. Parents and caregivers can use it as a starting point for conversations about what real preparation for a demanding profession involves. Teachers and librarians may find it useful for ocean science units, career-exploration programs and nonfiction collections, since it connects physical science concepts such as pressure and gas behavior to a concrete occupation. Because it also describes the support roles behind each dive, it shows readers a range of paths into underwater work, not only the role of the diver.

So You Want To Be A Deep Sea Diver is a children's nonfiction title, 38 pages in length, with ISBN 978-1-972766-31-6. It is available through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766317, where current formats and pricing are listed on the product page. Readers can purchase directly from that listing. The book's three 2026 recognitions, from Literary Titan, the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards and the CIPA EVVY Book Awards, are noted in the listing description. Review copies and interview requests can be directed to the author through the contact channels associated with the release.

The deep sea diver title is one entry in a series that is still expanding. The So You Want To Be A… collection is envisioned to span more than 180 titles in total, with over 60 published to date and new releases arriving on a steady cadence. Subjects already covered range from astronauts and marine biologists to magicians, stunt performers and roller coaster designers. Each book is meant to pull back the curtain on a real career by describing its rewards, its challenges and the path to get there. The deep sea diver volume extends the series into one of its more technical and physically demanding fields, and it sits alongside other science-oriented careers in the lineup.

Soules came to children's publishing after 25 years in law and finance, where she advised hedge funds and sophisticated financial institutions on legal and regulatory matters. She has said that work taught her precision and discipline, and how to translate intricate subjects into language anyone can use. The deep sea diver book reflects that background in its handling of technical material, from gas mixtures to decompression, which it explains without reducing the substance. Soules lives in Seattle with her husband and two children. Her stated belief is that curiosity is the engine of a meaningful life, and that young readers are smarter, more curious and more capable than the publishing world often assumes.

About So You Want To Be A… and Linda Soules. Linda Soules is the author and creator of the So You Want To Be A… series, a growing collection of career-exploration books for readers ages 10 to 14 and beyond. The series is envisioned to span more than 180 titles, with over 60 published to date. Each title examines a real career, including its joys, its challenges and the path to reach it, with a commitment to never talking down to young readers. Before turning to children's publishing, Soules spent 25 years advising hedge funds and financial institutions on legal and regulatory matters. She lives in Seattle. So You Want To Be A Deep Sea Diver is available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766317.