El Deafo
#1 New York Times Bestseller!
Now an Apple+ Animated TV Series!
Winner, John Newbery Medal What does it take for a student with hearing loss and a hearing aid to become a superhero!!?!? Starting at a new school is scary, especially with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest! At her old school, everyone in Cece's class was deaf. Here, she's different. She's sure the kids are staring at the Phonic Ear, the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. Too bad it also seems certain to repel potential friends. Then Cece makes a startling discovery. With the Phonic Ear she can hear her teacher not just in the classroom but anywhere her teacher is in the school--in the hallway . . . in the teacher's lounge . . . in the bathroom! This is power. Maybe even superpower! Cece is on her way to becoming El Deafo, Listener for All. But the funny thing about being a superhero is that it's just another way of feeling different . . . and lonely. Can Cece channel her powers into finding the thing she wants most, a true friend? El Deafo is a book that will entertain children, give hearing-impaired children a hero of their own, and challenge others to consider an experience unlike their own. Like other great works for children, it provides the opportunity for young readers to consider how they would act or react in a similar situation, helping to build empathy and understanding through the power of story. Also Available:
El Deafo: Superpowered Edition! Get a special hardcover collector's edition of Cece Bell's beloved graphic novel with 40 bonus pages of childhood photographs, early sketches, notes from Cece, and much more!
Now an Apple+ Animated TV Series!
Winner, John Newbery Medal What does it take for a student with hearing loss and a hearing aid to become a superhero!!?!? Starting at a new school is scary, especially with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest! At her old school, everyone in Cece's class was deaf. Here, she's different. She's sure the kids are staring at the Phonic Ear, the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. Too bad it also seems certain to repel potential friends. Then Cece makes a startling discovery. With the Phonic Ear she can hear her teacher not just in the classroom but anywhere her teacher is in the school--in the hallway . . . in the teacher's lounge . . . in the bathroom! This is power. Maybe even superpower! Cece is on her way to becoming El Deafo, Listener for All. But the funny thing about being a superhero is that it's just another way of feeling different . . . and lonely. Can Cece channel her powers into finding the thing she wants most, a true friend? El Deafo is a book that will entertain children, give hearing-impaired children a hero of their own, and challenge others to consider an experience unlike their own. Like other great works for children, it provides the opportunity for young readers to consider how they would act or react in a similar situation, helping to build empathy and understanding through the power of story. Also Available:
El Deafo: Superpowered Edition! Get a special hardcover collector's edition of Cece Bell's beloved graphic novel with 40 bonus pages of childhood photographs, early sketches, notes from Cece, and much more!
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Community Reviews
I do not typically read graphic novels, but I have. I read this one because an 11-year-old I knew has it checked out of the school library, and I was at the house for hours, so I was a bit bored. It was sooooo much more engaging than I expected. Although the graphics are at times over-simplified (facial expressions aren't very revealing, it's sometimes hard to tell relative ages of different children, for example), her depictions of the tools available to help deaf and hearing-impaired students in the seventies and eighties are clear and detailed enough to understand without getting too caught up in technicalities.
The frustration of not being able to relate to others - but not understanding why - as a young child is shown, and not just "told about". It is exciting to suddenly have aids that make others' speech clear again; yet quickly disappointing to learn that people outside of her first "deaf school", stare at you or are even put off completely by the tools you use to participate in life and learning. Many if not most folks with disabilities in the seventies were taught to hide them, "overcome" them, mask them, and pretend they didn't exist: to make "normal" people more comfortable with inclusion. But you can't hide a giant front pack or waist bag with several pounds of hearing equipment, nor the fact that your teacher has to speak into a microphone in order for you to understand anything she says. It's frustrating and difficult to "fit in" like you're "supposed to", when so much of what you carry with you and do makes you stick out over and over.
The author does a wonderful job of showing pre-teens and other children what this was like, and how she adapted, rather than just preaching about it or listing facts. She shows resentment, hope, disappointment, discovery, and maturation of the main character (herself), as her story moves from learning about hearing loss to making first friends, and finally getting through elementary school with some actual friends and grudging acceptance from a few other classmates.
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