"El Deafo" by Cece Bell- Book Review

 

El Deafo by Cece Bell. Amulet Books. 2014

Imagine one day you are a just a girl singing your favorite songs, watching TV with your family, and exploring with your best friend when, seemingly out of nowhere, you become deaf. For Author Cece Bell this was not something she had to imagine this is exactly what happened to her. In her debut graphic novel, El Deafo, Cece Bell details some of the experiences she went through as a child after she contracted meningitis at the age of 4 and became deaf. In Bell’s novel the self-named main character Cece, has to navigate through all the challenges that come with growing up, while also trying to be her herself in a world that is all at once familiar and foreign. 

Cece, like any young child, wants to have a noble friend who will be on her side at all times and simply accept her, hearing aid and all. However, as Cece grows up she quickly realized that being deaf comes with more than just the obvious obstacles. Everyone around her, from her teachers to her peers, is either hyper aware of her disAbility, overcompensating by being unnecessarily loud and enunciating dramatically. Or they completely disregard her needs by talking with their backs turned to her or having multiple conversations at once. Of course, Cece herself has a hard time coming to terms with her disAbility. Until she begins to think of her disAbility as a superpower. Cece creates a superhero, El Deafo, armed with the power to hear anyone who is wearing the microphone to her Phonic Ear. Cece’s hearing aid not only helps her in everyday life but it helps El Deafo defeat her overbearing ‘friend’ Laura, and even impress her crush Mike. Along the way Cece finds her true friend and sidekick, Martha.  

El Deafo is a fantastic book I can see many students enjoying, both boys and girls. Because El Deafo is a graphic novel, it is easy to digest and can quickly captivate a reader who is enjoys watching cartoons. Not to mention the colorful drawings and interesting use of text draws the reader in making reading the novel that much more enjoyable. 

El Deafo would pair nicely with the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio, which also focuses on a child who struggles to be accepted by his peers because he looks ‘different’. I could see myself reading El Deafo in a whole group setting to a middle school classroom. This book could easily be read at the beginning of the year to solidify the idea that accepting your differences is hard, but in the end being different is was makes us, us. 


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