El Deafo

El Deafo

Written and illustrated: Cece Bell

Awards: John Newbery Medal

FOCUS

• El Deafo is a contemporary fiction novel.  Even though the book is made up of cartoon rabbit characters, the plot intensively focuses on a scenario that could take place with a real child.  This book is also a memoir of the Cece Bell’s childhood as she struggled with hearing loss.

OVERVIEW OF AUTHOR

• According to Danielson, J, Cece Bell has been writing and illustrating picture books for 10 years (para. 1 2014).  Senn, Jan writes that Bell was a “graduate of the Master of Arts program at Kent State University’s school of Visual Communication Design.  Bell lost her hearing as a young child after getting meningitis.  She learned how to lip read at a young age.  Bell is married to a children’s book author who also majored in art.  They live in Virginia and have two sons.  Her most impactful book to children and families is the famous El Deafo, a detailed experience of her own life written as a graphic novel,” (Senn, J 2015).

SUMMARY OF EL DEAFO

• Cece bell struggled with being deaf growing up. She faced  a lot of challenges in her life surrounding school.  She had to face embarrassment and navigate challenges that most children do not even think about.
• Cece Bell wrote a graphic novel about her life being deaf.  Many children and families have been impacted around the world with this book.
• The characters in the book are rabbits.  According to Senn, J, “she made her characters rabbits because they have giant ears and are good at hearing.  ‘It was sort of a visual metaphor to show how I was feeling… like the one rabbit whose big ears didn’t work,” (12 facts… paragraph 7).

• As the novel starts off, we see that Cece was once a normal kid.  She was not born deaf, but went through a tragic hearing loss at a young age.  “I can’t even walk!  I can crawl, though.  And after a few days of practice, I regain my balance.  I’m feeling so much better!” (pg. 8).  Kids get a glimpse as they read into someone experiencing meningitis. The outcome of that is hearing loss.
• The very first thing that the Doctor did to help Cece hear was give her a hearing aid.  While Cece was growing up in the 1970’s, they looked a different than today. The hearing aid was large with cords hang from her ears with a large box hanging by her chest.  The box allows Cece to hear, but everything sounds muffled so she cannot hear words correctly.  She goes to a school called “Fisher School” to help her learn with other kids who struggle with being deaf.

• Cece eventually moves to a new house and must go back to a public school where she will not be surrounded by children like her anymore.  As she goes to her new school, everything is very muffled.  Her mother takes her to the doctor and Cece gets a new device to help her hearing. It is called the Phonic Ear.

 

• The phonic ear allows her to hear everything and she feels like superhero.  She hears someone call someone deaf “Deafo” on the television and she finds it hilarious.  That she says is going to be her superhero name.
• As the years go on and she gets older a device is given to her teacher and those speaking around her to enable her to hear what they are saying.  She even hears her teacher going to the bathroom which she again thinks is funny and makes her a superhero.
• El Deaf goes through the struggle of making friends, shows the struggle in each grade of elementary/middle school, such as liking a boy, and allows children to relate to the feelings of someone deaf.  It is very powerful and opens the mind to others not like us.

AUTHOR’S USE OF LANGUAGE 

• According to Children’s Literature Briefly, Bell uses precise vocabulary allowing the reader to actually feel like they are experiencing the same things as Cece.  There is a lot of dialogue and word usage to show what actually happened.  Bell uses dialogue to show “truth emerging about personality, motives, desires, prejudices, and feelings,” (pg. 27 2016).  Bell also uses unexpected insights to surprise the reader of the experiences of a child who is deaf.

INSTRUCTIONAL LESSONS

• This book would be an amazing guided reading book.  Comprehension strategies would include inferences and diving into a character’s point of view.  There would be a lot of dialogue about someone being deaf and the challenges they face.  I would do writing and reading lessons on how we would get through our school day with Cece’s challenges.  Children can write, “If I was deaf…” stories to relate to Cece.  This would also be a great time to address any differences in the class and allow children to view life in someone else’s perspective.
• A culminating activity could to be make our own graphic novels of our own challenges and triumphs.

 

MENTOR TEXT

• This book would be great for grades 5-8, but not limited to those grades. El Deaf would be a wonderful book to spend time on author’s purpose since Cece Bell wrote this book about her own experiences.  We would really get to know the author by studying the character development in the story.
• We can compare her life as a child to her life as an adult with deafness.
• What were challenges that she faced as a child in relation to challenges faced as an adult?
• How is it easier being deaf in 2018 than it was in the 1970’s?

 

CHANGING A CHILD’S PERSPECTIVE

• Children mostly live and focus on their own experiences or their own challenges.  El Deaf would get the focus off of themselves and be able to experience challenges someone would face being deaf.  This would expand their thinking to be cautious of differences around them.  It could encourage gratefulness for what they have.
• This book can also impact children who are deaf.  They are not alone and would feel like someone can relate to them.  It would allow them to have hope like how one day they can help others and also succeed greatly like the author Cece Bell.

EXTENSION

• Who or what was included and who or what was left out of the scope of the book? This book included a child being deaf in elementary years and early middle school years.  What was left out of this book was her life as a young child and her life as a high school/college student.  The reason why Cece Bell focused on a certain age is to really attract readers of those ages.
• What attitudes are shown toward people?  El Deaf creates a deep appreciation for people.  No matter how big someone’s differences are, they are to be loved and understood as much as possible.
• Who are people in my life that I can be more understanding to?  What practical steps can I do to make sure they feel 100% loved and understood?

 

Written by Kelsey Leu         June 11, 2018

Danielson, J. (2014, September). Cece Bell – Interview. Retrieved June 11, 2018, from https://bookpage.com/interviews/17078-cece-bell#.Wx65xa2ZO8U

Senn, J. (2015, June 25). 12 Fast Facts About Cece Bell. Retrieved June 11, 2018, from https://www.kent.edu/magazine/CeceBell