El Deafo by Cece Bell
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Web ID: 16460020great book with a wonderful message
I really enjoyed this book. I think it's an excellent read for kids, teens, and adults because of its messages about self-worth and finding true friends.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
This book is what I needed when I needed it most
Story: 2/2 stars This book, to me, does not fall under the category of inspiration as termed by Stella Young. This book wasn't about Cece's overcoming her deafness; it was about her acceptance of her hearing aids (and deafness). This book wasn't about inspiring any reader; it was about understanding Cece's experiences. This book certainly wasn't used as a way to guilt hearing people to try harder; it was about educating and hopefully about making hearing people reflect on how they treat deaf/Deaf/Hoh people. If you found yourself categorizing this book as inspiration, them I highly suggest you give the book another read because that's not what the author intended. (Bell herself even included an Author's Note at the end to address her motivations for writing this book.) Is this graphic novel about Cece's life growing up deaf? Yes, her deafness is a huge part of this book. Not only did Bell write about her own deaf experience, but also I noted educational moments of the deaf experience. Part of me questioned whether it was Bell's intent to have educational material in about what her experience was like. But I rationalized it as, this is what she has learned and she has to explain it in terms for hearing readers. I still loved it regardless, and I appreciated both how it was educational without being overtly "This is all Deaf people's experience." She rather spoke to her life that happens to be common for other deaf/Deaf/Hoh people. Her deafness--and the educational components--were not the only aspect to consider. This book is about friendship, about acceptance from one's self and from their peers, about loneliness, about first crushes, about the challenge of gym class, about... I could go on forever, but I want you to find some other themes as well! But for me, I found that the friendship plot was the main arc for the book. Characters: 2/2 stars I don't think there was a character in this book that I didn't like. Don't get me wrong: there were characters on whom I wanted to call their parents. But even the "antagonists" were well-developed. Though bullies like Laura and Ginny come across as cliched, their behavior and treatment to Cece is so true that readers shouldn't disregard their tropes so easily. And what I love both about those two characters--as well as the other young children in Cece's mainstream school--is the difference between all of them. Laura is plain abusive in everything she did; Ginny is rude in over-exaggerating her words; Bonnie is well-indented but really bad-executed in her self-appraisal for knowing how to fingerspell Cece's name; Missy is so condescending in making Cece feel like a victim. Put all these characters together and what you get is a collective possibility for the types of hearing people Deaf/Hoh people can come across. The story may be on Cece, but I want to challenge readers to look at the hearing characters with just as much emphasis. I absolutely loved Cece's layers as a character, and I found at least three of them. The first layer was what I noticed as Cece's external interaction with the people around her. Especially with Laura, Ginny, and Mike, Cece wants to make people happy--even if it's against her own wishes. She's hesitant and uncertain, and we can see that with some of the sounds she "makes" rather than the sentences she produces. The second layer was her internal dialogue. She has such connection to her own thoughts, though that connection between her thoughts and words aren't always perfect. In her head, she's witty, so much so that I would chuckle at some of her internal remarks. The third layer I noticed was her alter-ego: El Deafo. She is so tough that I found myself sort of scared at the things El Deafo would do to her enemies. Some of her fighting tactics I couldn't agree with personally; however, I found that to be the best part: even the superhero isn't completely and only good. There's some gray area. The best part of Cece's character: the layers, which were once distinct at the beginning of the book, became one person and one layers with multiple aspects to her. Writing: 2/2 stars Not only do I have to consider the writing, but I have the opportunity to consider the art for this graphic novel. The writing--both the captions and the dialogue--were succinct and purposeful. Even Cece's "uh"s and "um"s served a role. Not to mention that I absolutely loved Cece's catchphrase (for lack of better words) "rats"! And I haven't even gotten around to mention the random noises and letters put together in the dialogue. At times, I found myself trying to decipher what the characters were saying, and at other times, I decided to allow myself to read the sounds as Cece heard them. I can empathize with this kind of dialogue because as someone who is Hard-of-Hearing, I have some experience with this. It's different than Cece's, and that's why I wanted to not decipher everything: to experience the authentic and expert representation of what Cece heard. While I'm still curious why all the characters were drawn as bunnies (rabbits?), I accepted it as a fact for this book nevertheless. The colors were fun (as I would hope it would be for children's literature) and the images were... powerful. There were moments during which I would look at the entire image--the foreground and the background. Many of the details were pleasing to look at. But some were quite rewarding when something in the background became important in the next frame or image. For me, the images and the separation of images were clear; I could tell when I was supposed to be in El Deafo's mindset versus Cece's mindset. My favorite part was using the drawings to Bell's advantage: one example is when Cece needed glasses. Experience: 2/2 stars My journey with this book has been a whirlwind: both as a result from the book and from my personal life. When I first received the book in the mail, I read the first 70 or so pages, I didn't want to put it down. But the more my personal life became something for me to work on, the book had to take a step back as I couldn't put my energy to focus on it. Every time I picked up this book in hopes to get away from my reality for a moment, every time this book allowed me to. Every time I was in a bad mood and wanted to read, this book would get me so invested that I could forget my mood for a couple of pages or chapters. I greatly appreciate that this book was able to do that for me when I haven't been able to read anything else. Could I have enjoyed it more? Certainly, but even with all the personal life distractions, I am able to love this book. Aftermath: 2/2 stars I have been reflecting and listening to my fellow Deaf friends about the narrative surrounding deafness and Deaf culture in books. What is the single-story about deaf/Deaf/Hoh people and the community? What stories do we, deaf/Deaf/Hoh people, want? Finding the answers has been a constant battle in my head. On one hand, for instance, my Deaf friends have talked about wanting a deaf person from a hearing family to find their place in the Deaf community. I'm all for those stories. But I'm conflicted too because there are other narratives out there to be explored. Reading El Deafo has given me a perspective to think about, too. Bell even wrote in her Author's Note how she didn't learn about the Deaf community until later and she wanted to write a story reflective of her experience as a child. As I was reading Bell's graphic novel, I hoped that there would be more promotion for the Deaf community, but in a non-fiction graphic novel, that's not possible. Some of my takeaways based from Bell's graphic novel: There are many stories and experiences that make up the Deaf community and experiences of d/Deaf people. All of them should be shared and read and learned about. All of them are worthy to have their own narrative, even if it's not what one person wants. Another deaf/Deaf/Hoh person will. There are many stories and experiences that can and will be written about the deaf/Deaf experience and there will be parts of a narrative that will be left out. A book can try to include many things, but it won't ever include everything. So what one book doesn't have, another book can. Overall: 10/10 stars (Or 5/5 stars)
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com