Citation:
Bell, C. (2014). El Deafo.
New York, NY: Amulet Books.
Summary:
Cece Bell is just like every other 4
year old, until she falls ill with meningitis. After a stay in the hospital,
she comes home to realize that something is not quite right. She can no longer
hear what is going on around her. This is the story of a young girl whose life
is altered due to the sudden loss of hearing. Cece must now use special hearing
devices and learn to read lips. Set in the 1970’s, the medical technology for
hearing aids was bulky. Cece struggles through the book to accept her new
hearing situation all while dealing with changing schools, navigating the
waters of friendship and crushes, and learning to love herself, exactly as she
is.
Response:
The main conflict of this book is
that Cece is learning how to do life with her disability, which includes both figuring
out how to talk to others about her hearing loss all while learning how to grow
in self-confidence. This overarching theme of accepting yourself, flaws and
all, is something that readers of all ages can connect to. The theme of
learning to be your own person, regardless of a disability, is one that readers
with all types of disabilities can appreciate. This book’s main character is in
4th grade, and a lot of the smaller conflicts in the book resonate
with every day problems that children this age encounter, from a first crush,
to figuring out friendships, to feeling self-conscious about things. Because of
the setting and characters, this book would be most appreciated by younger
adolescents.
Textbook Connections:
Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Autobiography
Format: Graphic novel
On the YALSA 2015 Great GraphicNovels for Teens list
Other Resources:
Common Sense Media book review
2015 Newberry Medal Honor book
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