El Deafo
Ratings31
Average rating4
A 2015 Newbery Honor Book & New York Times bestseller! Going to school and making new friends can be tough. But going to school and making new friends while wearing a bulky hearing aid strapped to your chest? That requires superpowers! In this funny, poignant graphic novel memoir, author/illustrator Cece Bell chronicles her hearing loss at a young age and her subsequent experiences with the Phonic Ear, a very powerful—and very awkward—hearing aid. The Phonic Ear gives Cece the ability to hear—sometimes things she shouldn’t—but also isolates her from her classmates. She really just wants to fit in and find a true friend, someone who appreciates her as she is. After some trouble, she is finally able to harness the power of the Phonic Ear and become “El Deafo, Listener for All.” And more importantly, declare a place for herself in the world and find the friend she’s longed for.
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Charming memoir. About all growing up in the 70s. As a kid of the 80s it was cool to reminisce about a time before video games , computers, and cell phones. When you got home after school and your parents kick you out of the house to play with the neighborhood kids until dinner. Turning her hearing aid into a superpower. Growing up issues - friendship, bullying. How even well meaning friends treat her differently. Life before the ADA - no tv subtitles. Sleepovers. How awful it feels to be “othered” - referred to in front of her face as “my deaf friend”. “Oh you poor thing”. She's so sweet and too nonconfrontational. She uses her hearing aids as an excuse to get out of stuff (a sleepover makeover). Learning sign language. She finally meets a real friend who doesn't treat her differently.
