about the book
At age four, Cece loses her hearing from spinal meningitis. She’s prescribed a Phonic Ear. If you thought going to school and making new friends was hard, try doing it with a bulky hearing aid strapped to your chest!
Cece’s teacher wears a FM unit to amplify her voice in the Phonic Ear. But when the teacher leaves the FM unit on, Cece hears everything: bathroom visits, even teacher lounge improprieties.
It’s a superpower! Cece dubs herself” “El Deafo, Listener for All”!
The Phonic Ear may give Cece the ability to hear, but it also isolates her from her classmates. How can Cece possibly make a perfect friend who isn’t bossy or too-sensitive-to-her-Deafness?
about the author
Cece Bell almost gave up on creating children’s books. After sending her first picture book manuscript to a publisher long long ago, she nearly “hung it up” after receiving the rejection letter.
Years later, she got a better story idea. She worked hard on her book about a sock monkey and sent it off to a publisher. Three months later she got the magical phone call—and three years later, the book was on store shelves! Now she illustrates books for other authors and has written and illustrated several of her own.
Thank heavens she didn’t give up!
Her graphic novel, El Deafo, tells all about how she lost her hearing and coped with school, teachers, friends, and family. She also illustrated the novel with the help of acclaimed colorists David Lasky.
Cece lives in an old remodeled church in Montgomery County, Virginia, and works in a snazzy barn-like structure right next door. She can see the Roanoke River from one window and trains from another. Her kids, husband, and dogs are forbidden to enter unless invited!
She met her husband, writer Tom Angleberger, while they were both majoring in art at William and Mary College. Cece went on earning a graduate degree from Kent State and worked freelance on all sorts of “nutty projects”. Tom is her best encourager and editor!
Remember the sock monkey from her first published book? Now her house and studio are decorated with them. A monkey mosaic is in the yard, another adorns her front door, and painted monkeys dance across her kitchen cabinets. If you see a lady pulling a plaid suitcase with a sock monkey on the side, introduce yourself to Cece!
Sources:
Author website
Author interview: Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Author video: Talking about El Deafo
Story behind El Deafo: Mary Crockett
Also by Cece Bell
Rabbit & Robot : The Sleepover. Candlewick Press. 2012.
about the illustrator
David Lasky grew up in Virginia and attended the College of William & Mary (with authors Cece Bell and Tom Angleberger). He has been a published cartoonist since 1989.
In 1992, he moved to Seattle, Washington, joining the close-knit comics community there. It was through this community that David met Frank M. Young, with whom he went on to co-author The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song, a graphic novel about the first family of country music. It took David and Frank nearly a decade to research and write Don’t Forget This Song. They wanted to get it right. Their hard work paid off: they won the 2013 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work!
When his college friend Cece Bell was writing El Deafo, her original colorist dropped out of the project because he was too busy, so David volunteered to color the graphic novel. El Deafo went on to win a 2015 Newbery Honor Book Award!
David still lives in Seattle, where he draws comics whenever he can.
Sources:
Illustrator website
Illustrator spotlight: Cece Bell’s Blog
Also by David Lasky:
Oregon Trail : The Road to Destiny by Frank Young. Sasquatch Books. 2011.
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