Thoughts on El Deafo

El Deafo 

By Cece Bell

How It Stacks Up...

//★★★★☆//80%//233 pages//

So What's It About?

Starting at a new school is scary, even more so with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest! At her old school, everyone in Cece's class was deaf. Here she is different. She is sure the kids are staring at the Phonic Ear, the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. Too bad it also seems certain to repel potential friends. 

Then Cece makes a startling discovery. With the Phonic Ear she can hear her teacher not just in the classroom, but anywhere her teacher is in school--in the hallway...in the teacher's lounge...in the bathroom! This is power. Maybe even superpower! Cece is on her way to becoming El Deafo, Listener for All. But the funny thing about being a superhero is that it's just another way of feeling different... and lonely. Can Cece channel her powers into finding the thing she wants most, a true friend?

This funny perceptive graphic novel memoir about growing up hearing impaired is also an unforgettable book about growing up, and all the super and super embarrassing moments along the way.

My Thoughts...

I absolutely loved the characters in this book. They leapt off the page completely and really did make me feel something when they went through their hardships and struggles. I applaud Cece for this because it is very hard sometimes to feel connections with characters when they are in a graphic novel, because you just see the outside of them, not their interior dialogue. 

This book's set up and dialogue was both very quick and very cute. I loved the unique story that jumped at you from the moment you opened this book. I don't usually have much to say about graphic novel's "writing", but this one was truly amazing. How the comics were set up didn't talk down to younger kids, who this was targeted at, while still not being super unrealistic. 

The plotting in this book could drag super slowly and be super fast paced, but I did really end up liking how the overall story flowed. However, I do wish that the plot had lasted longer and extended into Cece's teenage years. I wanted to see Cece's teenage years, because I wanted to see her growth and how she dealt with things when she was older. 

Overall, this graphic novel has everything that I normally look for in a novel, dynamic characters, great setup and execution of the story, amazing, heartfelt writing, and character growth. My only complaint is that the story didn't last long enough. 

What about you? Have you read any good books lately? What were they? Have you read El Deafo? If so, what did you think? Tell me in the comments below.