Caroline 's Reviews > El Deafo: A Graphic Novel

At age four author Cece Bell fell ill with a disease that left her profoundly deaf. El Deafo is a sequential-art memoir telling of her life as a deaf child—from having to wear the "phonic ear" (a kind of bulky hearing aid) to navigating friendships with hearing children to struggling to accept being different. At 233 pages, El Deafo covers Bell’s school years from pre-school to fifth grade and depicts the various obstacles she encountered over these years with a lot of feeling. Because the story is about hearing, Bell made the creative decision to depict everyone as an animal with prominent ears: rabbits.

Luckily Bell's deafness didn't affect her ability to make friends, but it did pose problems in ways that hearing people might never think about. Because Bell wore the phonic ear only in school and was resistant to learning sign language, she relied a great deal on lip-reading. Lip-reading is, of course, inexact, so problems arose when she misinterpreted what others said. She also felt left out at sleep-overs when chatter occurred in the dark, and she had trouble enjoying many TV shows. By contrast, the phonic ear is an impressive device. Its reach was impressively far, affording her a kind of super-sonic hearing. After Bell told a friend this, she and her classmates took advantage of the phonic ear's abilities to have some fun at school unbeknownst to their teacher.

Unfortunately, Bell left out some information that really stands out in its absence. She never specified which disease stole her hearing. Later, when the subject of sign language came up, she didn't explain why she refused to learn it even though learning it could have improved her life. The mechanics of her deafness are also vague. In the afterword she explained that deafness can range in severity from mild to profound and labels hers as severe-to-profound, but in the memoir she’s seemingly able to speak smoothly to hearing people (which is everyone in the book). Because she didn’t become deaf until she was four, she obviously could speak, but I wondered whether severe hearing loss can lead to gradual loss of certain speaking skills, especially if hearing is lost early in life. I was disappointed Bell didn't use the afterword to explain any of these things.

Everything else about El Deafo is outstanding, though. As a book with a deaf main character, it's unusual, but where it really shines is in tone. So many graphic novels for children, memoirs and not, hyper focus on what's miserable about childhood, so it’s a welcome surprise to see that El Deafo doesn't do this. The memoir’s Newbery Honor is likely a recognition of this in addition to recognition of the disability theme. Bell fortunately didn’t contribute to the detrimental “inspiring disabled person” trope, but her memoir does send the message that deafness doesn’t always hold someone back—in academic (and career) success or in relationships.