Wednesday, December 9, 2020

El Deafo


Book: El Deafo
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation :  References

Basic Information:

Author: Cece Bell

Edition: epub on Libby from Mountain View Public Library

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

ISBN: 1419710206 (ISBN13: 9781419710209)

Start Date: December 7, 2020

Read Date: December 9, 2020

233 pages

Genre: Fiction, Biography, Deafness, Children

Language Warning: None

Rated Overall: 4 out of 5



Fiction-Tells a good story: 5 out of 5

Fiction-Character development: 4 out of 5


Synopsis:

This is the story loosely based upon the author’s childhood, but portrayed with a family of semi-human rabbits. You know the long floppy ears.. The side effect of a childhood illness was being significantly hard of hearing. Enough so that she needed assistance in her hearing.. The story is in graphic form, so through her childhood, her embarrassments, people being overly helpful, and a lot of the “normal” roads to gaining acceptance as a child.


Cast of Characters:
  • CeCe-the person who needs hearing aids
  • Mom
  • Dad
  • Ashley-brother
  • Sarah-sister
  • Audiologist
  • Emma-Friend, at old neighborhood
  • Laura-Friend at new school. One thing about Laura is she always needs to be the better one.
  • Ginny-Friend in third grade
  • Martha-New kid on block. CeCe thinks of her as her sidekick
  • Mike Miller-New kid on block. CeCe falls for him

Expectations:
  • Recommendation: Andrea
  • When: December 5, 2020
  • Date Became Aware of Book: December 5, 2020
  • How come do I want to read this book: Andrea said that this is the first book with a character who had hearing aides.
  • What do I think I will get out of it? Andrea said Read El Deafo if you want to know what it is like in my world. So I will.

Thoughts:

This is a story in graphic form loosely based upon the author’s life as someone who has lost a lot of her hering. Instead of a human fsociety, it is a story about rabbits who resemble humans.


The Phonic Ear is the name of a company and its device. It sounds like the one in this book is a bit older as the near technologies can be more focused as well as less obtrusive.


Note: From here on down to the Evaluation, there is not really a need to read my summaries.



Chapter One

CeCe has a happy life. Then contracts meningitis. It is touch and go for awhile.


Chapter Two

CeCe gets tested and is given hearing aids.


Chapter Three

CeCe is aware that the hearing aid makes her look different. She is wondering how people will react. Also the conversations are muffled. She goes to school, but for the hearing impaired. There she is taught lip reading. It is not just the shape of the mouth, but a number of cues such as visual, context and gestures. But exaggerated facial movements can confuse rather than help.


One hits home here: Mustaches and beards are a hindrance to recognition.


Chapter Four

Family moves. She says goodbye to Emma. She meets the kids in the new neighborhood who are curious about the earbuds. She will be in First Grade in a new school. She now gets a new device, the Phonic Ear. It is paired with a mic the teacher can wear. She can hear everything the teacher says and does throughout the school. She feels like she has super-powers now.


Chapter Five

CeCe feels like she is in a bubble until she makes friends with Laura. Laura likes to be the better one. They join Girl Scouts. She goes into her superhero motif in her mind.


Chapter Six

Summer after 2nd grade, she gets new hearing aids. But when school starts she will need to wear the Phonic Ear still. Laura is not in her third grade class. New friend Ginny, Ginny thinks she has to yeah and speak real slowly. Really annoying. Ginny drives off Laura. Cece gets upset and tells Ginny what she thinks. Ginny dis-invites her as a friend


Chapter Seven

Watching TV can be like watching silent movies. Hard to read lips or make sense out of a sense. She watches a TV show where a kid is called Deafo. From here El Deafo is born.


Chapter Eight

CeCe is invited to Ginny’s party. She enjoys the party, but when the lights go out, she cannot lip read and feels left out. She leaves the party.


Chapter Nine

She enters 4th grade. First thing is she mis-interprets something on lipreading. Her parents think she should learn signing. She does not want to. She resists learning. Parents say she does not need to learn, but she may be missing out. She sees a couple signing an argument. Impressed.


Chapter Ten

Lots of kids on her block, none in her grade. They invite her to play, but she realizes she is not into games and stuff. She makes excuses not to play with Ginny. CeCe feels she needs a sidekick to go with El Deafo persona. New kid Martha, on the block and her makes friends. CeCe thinks she has a sidekick. Martha knows she has hearing aids.


Chapter Eleven

New family moves onto the block. CeCe has fallen for Mike Miller.


Chapter Twelve

CeCe is playing with Martha and runs into a branch and hurts her eye. Martha is feeling guilty and avoids CeCe making CeCe feel bad. CeCe realizes how much she misses Martha.


Chapter Thirteen

CeCe and Ginny sort of make up. CeCe finds out she will be in the same class as Mike Miller. She loves her teacher. Her eyes now change and her vision is blurry. She thinks she can get help from a friend, but the teacher thinks she is cheating.


Chapter Fourteen

CeCe gets glasses and is overjoyed she can see. Martha still thinks she caused her eye damage.


Chapter Fifteen

PE is a terror to CeCe. The PE teacher breaks the mic so now she cannot hear in any of the classes. Her regular teacher is understanding. It will take 4-6 weeks to get a replacement. She is determined to show the PE teacher she can do good and does.


Chapter Sixteen

Family celebration of doing well in PE. Father comes home with a rubber pencil. It is a highlight with her busmates. A bully breaks the pencil. Mike makes the bully apologize. CeCe is too embarrassed to say thanks to Mike.


Chapter Seventeen

CeCe is having a hard time in class and with friends without her Phonic Ear. All which she hears is gibberish sounds. Several people get in trouble in the class, including Mike. CeCee wants to talk with Mike, but cannot get the words out.


Chapter Eighteen

The new Phni Ear arrives and CeCe can hear. Oh joy! Even better, CeCe gets to be in a play with Mike, the only fifth graders chosen for a sixth grade play. During the play, her teacher goes to the bathroom-CecCe can hear her. And starts giggling. Mike wonders what is going on? She confesses her superpower of being able to spy on her teacher.


Chapter Nineteen

CeCe wants a date, Mike wants to test out the microphone for distance. The test drew a crowd and envisioned the possibilities. Mike meets Martha on his test and CeCe hears Martha’s fears.


Chapter Twenty

CeCe is infatuated with Mike. Mike’s plan is to use the mic as an early warning system when the teacher is out of the classroom, they can play. The plan works as everybody is back in their seats in time.


Chapter Twenty-One

No math-Reading is Fun. They get to make their own warm-fuzzes. Then pass them out to those whom they want to. Classmates exchange them. CeCe gets into giving them out to friends and family outside of school. She gives on out to Martha and they talk. They reunite.


A Note From the Author

She talks about how this is her story, with a few changes. She is hearing impaired.


Evaluation:

El Deafo is not a book making fun of the hearing-impared. It walks us through, in graphic form, a childhood experience by the author of lacking hearing through a sickness. She shows her fears and desires. Bell gives an empathetic view of life in this situation and successfully transmits it to the reader, at least to this adult reader.


I think it is written mostly for those children who are in the same situation Bell was in, but as an adult, it helps me understand some of the things which might be going through a child’s mind, even if not spoken. It is well worth the read, and then to reread to gain understanding.



References:
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