El Deafo by Cece Bell
El Deafo by Cece Bell-
Reviewed by Autumn Nevarez, Kimberly Paramo, Pamela Dimaano, Zachary Peterson
Review:
El Deafo is a graphic novel
by children’s author Cece Bell about her own experiences growing up deaf, and
how she overcame the physical limitations put on her by her disability—as well
as the social difficulties that come with it. The novel follow Bell from her
early childhood and the hospital stay when she lost her hearing and then
through her early adolescence as she attempts to find someone she can call a true
friend. Along the way she struggles with accurately explaining her disability to
those around her, and creates a parallel narrative in which she is a super hero
who uses her hearing aids to right wrongs.
As a child Bell wore a piece of assistive
technology called a phonic ear to school—a one way radio tuned to a microphone
her teacher wore—so that she would be able to follow along with lessons. She
quickly discovers that so long as her teachers keep the receiver on their
person she can listen to everything they do and say; leading her to declare the
phonic ear as her super power. This superpower is a key feature of Bell’s
narrative—her adaptive technology makes her stronger than those around her, not
lesser. This is an especially powerful message to readers who use assistive
technologies themselves, or who have any kind of disability, that the devices
used to help them are amazing assets. Bell struggles to understand language
even with her hearing aids, they are not perfect, but she does not let this
stop her from learning to understand the world around her and to participate.
For readers without disabilities or
need for any aids this novel can function as an instruction guide in patience
and understanding. Many of the difficulties that Bell faces in the novel come
from friends and classmates not making considerations for her disability or
otherwise making judgements about her before they ever meet her, along with her
commentary of what she wished they would do instead. Her social anxieties and
willingness to settle for some less than stellar friends create a story of a
girl who desperately wants to be liked by those around her.
Visually El Deafo is a soft
and enchanting comic. Bell’s style straddles the line between traditional comic
books and children’s books by featuring vibrant primary colors on nearly every
page, a simple textbox and speech bubble narration, and the thick solid outlines
that characterize American animation and children’s comics. The character
design of the novel is extremely inviting, allowing the reader to feel comfortable
with the easily recognizable and surprisingly relatable characters. Because of
its short length and easy language this book might be recommended to a younger
audience (3rd-9th grade), or read in conjunction with other
works about social stigma or physical disability.
Overall El Deafo is a
powerful narrative of a young girl struggling to fit in despite her limitations.
Readers who struggle to make friends or even just fit in will find comfort in
its pages.
Biography:
About the Author: Cece Bell
Cece Bell shares her biographical information on her own website to aid scholar’s understanding of herself, cecebell.wordpress.com. On this website she shares that she was born in 1970 in Richmond, Virginia and grew up in Salem, Virginia. She was an art major at the College of William and Mary—where she met her husband, writer Tom Angleberger. Cece then went on to Kent State University for a graduate degree in illustration and design, spending the following years working as a freelance illustrator for many “nutty” projects, as she describes (Bell in “Bio”). She is now a full-time author and illustrator. Her books include the Newbery Honor and Eisner-winning graphic novel El Deafo, the Geisel Honor-winning Rabbit & Robot, I Yam a Donkey, Bee-Wigged, Itty Bitty, and the Sock Monkey series. She has also created books with her husband Tom, including Crankee Doodle and the Inspector Flytrap series. What writing El Deafo meant to Cece was to “create a handbook” to change the way hearing people understand and communicate with the deaf without being disrespectful, as she grew up being deaf herself. El Deafo was initially a blog that she had started, later after realizing she had so many experiences struggling with her disability, she decided to turn it into a full graphic novel (Bell in “How I Made El Deafo”). In choosing the style of the novel, Cece states that she had never been very strong in descriptive writing, she liked the presentation of the speech bubbles to show what her character is or isn’t hearing and also the illustration of a scene or a character’s emotion (Bell in Interview with The Gaurdian). This makes sense given a deaf person’s heavy reliance on visuals for survival. By publishing the novel recounting her own experiences, she gave those who are deaf or who have a disability in general a book that they can identify with. As stated by Cece Bell herself, “El Deafo is a graphic novel based on my childhood experiences with hearing loss and hearing aids; it also chronicles my sometimes difficult quest for a True Friend. As I say in the book’s afterword, El Deafo may be about deafness, but it is in no way a representation of what all deaf people might experience… I am not an expert on no one’s deafness but my own” (Bell in “How I Made El Deafo”).
Instructional Resources:
- This is a sample lesson titled “Understanding Disabilities”. It includes pre-prepared essential questions, materials, vocabulary, and procedures for teachers to use in the classroom. This sample lesson focuses on the definition of “Disability”, and it also encourages students to research different types of disabilities to gain deeper understanding of them.
- This is a packet that encourages disability awareness. Inside it are several activities that students complete in-class, in groups. The packet is divided into different sections based on types of disabilities: Communication Disorders, Hearing Impairments, Learning Disabilities, Mental Disabilities, Physical Disabilities, Vision Impairments, and more. There are also resources included for teachers to use or research.
- This is a short, animated video based on the real-life experience of a high school student with a hearing impairment. She describes how she felt throughout her high school career, as well as how she coped with her disability.
- This is a video by Cece Bell, the author of El Deafo. In it, she introduces her graphic novel, and she also discusses her background and her motivations for writing the graphic novel.
- This is a site that hosts information about different types of disabilities. The site provides information about how to respectfully interact with individuals who have different disabilities.
- This is a short video that covers 25 basic American Sign Language signs. It covers different phrases that are most commonly used in American Sign Language.
- This is a list of fairly recent young adult novels that discuss different types of disabilities. Each novel either features themes regarding disability or features a protagonist that has a disability of some kind.
- This is an interview with Cece Bell at the National Book Festival in 2015. She discusses El Deafo, as well as some of her experiences coping with her disability.
- This video simulates what it’s like for people who have a hearing disability to read lips. It puts the viewers in their shoes, and allows them to see how difficult lip reading truly is.
- This is a packet of lesson plans all about deaf awareness. It contains different resources for teachers and students, as well as activities that can be completed by students in class. It is recommended for students aged 11 to 16, so this activity packet would be recommended for middle school aged through sophomore students.
Instructional Activity:
Preview:
Writing activity meant for 9th grade students. Students will demonstrate their understanding/analysis of the graphic novel El Deafo, as well as their ability to identify qualities/traits marking a character as "dynamic" or "static".California Common Core Standards:
Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
Resources and Preparation:
Completed reading of graphic novel El Deafo and completion of lecture on characters, including traits of protagonists/antagonists, foil characters, and static/dynamic characters.
Instructional Plan:
- Learning Objective
- After one hour of instruction, students will be able to:
- identify characteristics of protagonists/antagonists, foil characters, and static/dynamic characters
- identify important themes/topics within the graphic novel El Deafo
- Procedure(s)
- Assigned reading - El Deafo
- Lecture on the characters of El Deafo
- First handout
- Static/Dynamic Character Identification
- Second handout
- Reflective Paragraph on El Deafo
- Open class discussion on findings/comments
- Resources
- El Deafo graphic novel
- Static/Dynamic Character Handout
- Reflection Handout
- Time Frame
- 1 hour
Bibliography
Bell, Cece. “Bio.” Cece Bell, Word Press, cecebell.wordpress.com/.Bell, Cece. “Cece Bell: How I Made El Deafo.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 4
Aug. 2015, www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2015/aug/04/cece-bell-el-deafo-
in-pictures.
“Interview: Cece Bell: I Wanted to Show What It Felt like to Be the Only Deaf Kid at My
School.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 27 Apr. 2015,
www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/apr/27/cece-bell-el-deafo-newbery-medal-
deafness-childrens-books.
