This Newberry Honor graphic novel details the life and experiences of the author. Losing her hearing at the age of four Cece shares the obstacles and challenges she faced as she learned how to navigate the world with a diminished sense of hearing. As someone who is not part of the deaf community this book serves as a window into the life of someone who experiences things differently than myself and many of my students. Although I personally enjoy reading literature to learn about other cultures and communities it must be determined if this is a good book. To explore this possibility I decided to focus on character, plot, and illustration.
Although the characters portrayed in this graphic novel are rabbits, El Deafo is a based on the life of author Cece Bell. At a young age Cece lived a normal life with her loving family, but things change dramatically when she becomes ill with meningitis. The illness slowly robs Cece of her hearing, cleverly illustrated with fading text and empty speech bubbles. With her diminished sense of hearing Cece faces many challenges including learning how to lip read and use sign language, making and keeping friends, and camouflaging her ginormous Phonic Ear. With all of her insecurities she imagines herself as the superhero, El Deafo, who is much braver than she is with the strength to overcome adversity. For years she feels like her deafness is more of a disability than a superpower. Her classmates change all that when they take an interest in her Phonic Ear and discover just how far a range her microphone has.
There is the possibility that some readers may disapprove of the author sharing some of the conversations she overheard the teachers having in the teacher's lounge, or the toilet humor involved when teachers were still wearing the Phonics Ear microphone as they were going to the bathroom. But, reluctant readers could very well be engaged by the humor. Some may even wonder why the teacher would leave 5th grade students unattended in a classroom, giving them the opportunity to party. These events give Cece the opportunity to use her superpowers to benefit her classmates for the "greater good."
Graphic novels have become very popular with young readers and can be particularly helpful to those students with reading disabilities. Therefore the illustrations must be considered as a key component when deciding the quality of this book. The colorful illustrations contribute not only to the character's development and plot, but also to the overall pace of the story. This 233 page book has terrific pacing with the story broken down into twenty-one short chapters that capture the experiences and emotions Cece was going through at various milestones. Illustrations are bright and colorful with clean lines and just enough shadowing to add dimension to the placement of the characters in each scene.
When there are conversations between characters or when Cece's own personal musings hang above her head in thought bubbles the background is a soft solid color which allows readers to understand that the words are the most important part of the frame. Frames that include a background setting like the school or neighborhood show readers that the setting plays an important role in the plot of the story. The illustrations of Cece's alter ego, El Deafo, are captured with the donning of a red cape on our heroin's shoulders and backgrounds featuring the brightly-colored dotted designs often found in super hero comic books, helping reading differentiate between Cece's reality and imagination.
It's important for those with disabilities to see themselves represented in a library collection and this engaging story does just that. For those who are not part of the deaf community this novel serves as a window into a world we may never have to experience, but it can help us to realize how we can be more compassionate and understanding of those who are different from us. For these reasons, along with the analysis of the literary elements, I give this book a 5 out of 5 star rating.
Bell, C. (2014). El deafo. Amulet Books.
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