El Deafo

Bell, C. (2014). El Deafo. New York: Abrams.

El Deafo is a graphic novel that tells the story of Cece, a deaf girl who experiences life with the help of a magic phonic ear. This autobiographical retelling of Cece’s childhood captures the ups and downs of a girl who struggles to fit in and find a true friend. Cece loses her hearing at a young age due to illness and has to learn to adapt to life at home and school with her new limitations. Despite the serious subject matter, there is times when this book is laugh-out-loud funny as Cece shares her perspective on childhood in the mid 70's. Any reader would find enlightenment on the topic of hearing impairment and how the deaf manage to function in the hearing world.

Textbook Assignment #6

• Comparison - This book has similarities to Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming as it shares the author’s childhood experiences in a unique way. The mid 1970’s time period is set about a decade after Woodson, but is similar to Selznick’s story of Ben in Wonderstruck. Of the four books on our list, it is the only graphic novel and I found this one to be the most humorous. Bell’s descriptions of one of her classmates as “kinda pushee” and being able to overhear the teachers talk about their students in the teacher's’ lounge is hilarious.
• Appeal - El Deafo has wide appeal as a graphic novel. The charming illustrations and depiction of Cece and her friends as rabbits creates a fun reading experience, despite the serious, genuine feelings experienced by Cece as she struggles with her complete hearing loss. Any child who suffers hearing impairment will relate to Cece’s frustrations in dealing with the hearing world. I would recommend it to any family members, friends, or teachers of a hearing impaired student as it an eye-opening glimpse into their everyday challenges.  
• Three other books by Bell include:

Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover is ideal for a young audience with its simple dialogue and illustrations. It tells of the unlikely friendship between a rabbit and a robot and how the two manage to work through their differences. That is a similar problem in El Deafo as Cece tries to get her friends to understand her hearing loss and magic ear.  

Sock Monkey Series is a three book collection of the adventures of the sock monkey. These books, all picture books, share Bell’s quirky storytelling but in an entirely different format than El Deafo’s graphic novel.

Itty Bitty tells of a tiny dog who makes his home inside an enormous bone. Also a picture book, this story is aimed at the preschool audience and stands alone in the collection of Cece Bell’s books.

Book Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljJ0JbtQoEA

Teaching Books Link
http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=40736&a=1