El Deafo

Bell, C. (2014). El Deafo. BY: Abrams. The general subject of El Deafo centers around childhood of Cece Bell, who grows up bullied by her peers at school because she wears a hearing aid. To become accepted by her peers, Cece must lie to them about her hearing aid abilities and is given the secret identity, “El Deafo”. The facts of El Deafo are El Deafo was crafted by Cece Bell, based on her true experiences and torments as a child going to school with hearing aids. Extras found in the book include “A note from the author”, “Acknowledgements”, followed by a short paragraph of Cece Bell with a picture of her as a child wearing her hearing aids. The intended audience for El Deafo is middle grade through young adults, but there’s something in El Deafo that all ages can enjoy. Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson, Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm, and Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust by Loic Dauviller would be excellent for follow up reading. Lessons that might come from reading El Deafo are Cece can be relatable to anyone who might have an impairment, or struggle(d) at making friends the way she did. El Deafo meets the social developmental criteria because Cece struggles with keeping her friends while she has her hearing aids. In El Deafo, Cece is considered a heroic leader, both in her reality and her fictional world she creates when she becomes “El Deafo”, after she’s faced becoming socially unaccepted by her peers.