Sunday, July 20, 2014

Book Review: El Deafo


El Deafo is the story of a young girl, Cece, who comes down with meningitis and loses most of her hearing. At first she feels very lonely because she can't hear anyone and even with the hearing aids she has a hard time understanding what people are saying. Her friends don't understand her and think it's funny when she gets words wrong. For a while Cece goes to a school with other deaf kids but eventually her parents move and she has to go back to a regular school. For her new school, Cece gets a hearing aid that's connected to a microphone that the teacher wears and begins to think of herself as a super hero when she can hear the teacher even when she's not in the room. Unfortunately she still feels lonely and different from everyone else, and likens herself to Batman who has to hide who he is to fit in.

Author Cece Bell did a wonderful job of capturing what it was like to grow up hearing impared. The situations are believable and pulled me into little Cece's world.

The artwork is cute and the frames of the comic are very easy to read and understand. Children around 6-10 I think would connect with this book the best, though I enjoyed the brief sample as well.

It's important for children to be able to connect with people who are different and realize that their own differences are what makes them unique and special. Each child has something about themselves that they believe sets them apart and seeing that it can be a strength rather than an undesirable quality is part of growing up and accepting who we are.

El Deafo comes out on September 2nd and is available now for pre-order in paperback, hardback and for the kindle on Amazon.com.

I received a free sample of El Deafo through Netgalley.com and Amulet Books in exchange for an honest review.