El Deafo -Children’s Literature- Graphic Novel
Written and illustrated by CeCe Bell
This graphic novel is a loose
autobiographical story about the author’s childhood growing up deaf. CeCe Bell wore hearing aids and often felt
she wasn’t accepted by other children; she felt she was different. CeCe is frustrated and depressed because of how
she is treated, but too scared to say anything because she doesn’t want to lose
the few ‘friends’ she does have. The
characters are represented as bunnies,
and she uses her hearing aid as a superpower.
Sometimes her teachers forget to turn off their tiny microphones that
allow her to hear them in her hearing aid, and she is privy to conversations and
information she probably is not supposed to hear. She adopts the secret nickname “El Deafo”. As she gets older, she becomes more confident
about her impediment and even confronts those people who treat her
differently. She discovers that many of
those individuals do not realize how hurtful their actions can be. She even gains a new friend and sidekick
after she reveals her secret persona, “El Deafo” to her new friend. With age, comes confidence and CeCe realizes
that she doesn’t have to hide or be ashamed of her disability, rather she has a
different ability and can proudly share her superpower with others.
This link has a read aloud by
the author herself, as well as the inside scoop of the story.
An extension activity with
this book would to be for the class to do a research project on the deaf community. The students could also learn sign language
to learn how some individuals with a hearing impediment communicate.
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