Larson, Kirby.
DASH
New York : Scholastic, 2014
IL 3-6, RL 3.2
ISBN 0545416353


(5 booktalks)

In this semi-autobiographical graphic novel, Cece, a bunny, gets sick and loses most of her hearing. She then goes to a school for the deaf for one year. After that first year, she goes to regular school where she is the only deaf student. She has to wear a device called the Phonics Ear, which allows her to hear what the teacher is saying, and often more than she wants to hear if the teacher forgets she is wearing the microphone part of the Phonics Ear and goes to the bathroom.  Cece imagines herself as a superhero, El Deafo, who is accepted by classmates. This is a good story about friendship and about accepting who you are.   (Booktalk by Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award Committee)

Booktalk #3

Cece Bell lost her hearing from a bout of meningitis when she was four years old. In this memoir, told and illustrated as a graphic novel, Cece relates how her family tried to help her cope with this loss. She attempts to learn lip reading until she is outfitted with a Phonic Ear in the first grade. The best thing about wearing the Phonic Ear is that it equips her with secret super powers because suddenly, she can hear her teacher not just when she’s in the classroom, but in the teacher’s lounge, the hallway, and even the bathroom. When Cece’s family moves and she has to start a new school, her loneliness and need for friendships are complicated the selfconsciousness she feels wearing her clunky Phonic Ear. Will the superpowers it brings help her with what she wants more than anything else, a true friend?    (Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award DCF 2015 - 2016)  

Booktalker #4

Have you ever been embarrassed--like, red-faced, wish-the-earth-would-swallow-you-up embarrassed? Have you ever fantasized about flying away from situations that make you uncomfortable? Then you will totally get where the hero of El Deafo is coming from. When the author was very young, she was very sick. The illness affected her hearing, forcing her to get hearing aids. Starting school is hard enough, but starting school with wires poking out of your ears and a speaker on a string is even harder. Out of the discomfort and embarrassment of her early school days, Cece invented El Deafo, her cape-wearing, superhero powered alter ego. El Deafo is fearless. She’s not afraid to stand up to people who want to treat Cece like a baby. El Deafo is funny, finding ways to make herself laugh when the situation gets too serious. El Deafo can say all the things that Cece can’t, like “You’re not a very good friend” and “I miss you.”

 What I love most about El Deafo is that this is not just a book about a girl who’s deaf. This is a book about how to be a good friend. It’s a book about learning to find your voice in tough situations. It’s a book about celebrating the things that make you different, and finding people who appreciate that.

 This is a quick, funny, poignant graphic novel about growing up and finding yourself, and readers of any gender or age will love getting to know both Cece and El Deafo.  (Oklahoma Sequoyah Award, 2017)

Booktalk #5

Cece was just a regular kid until she contracted meningitis at 4 and lost her hearing, but she wasn’t about to let that stop her from having fun and being fashionable. That was, until she had to wear a big bulky hearing aid strapped to her chest to school. Talk about embarrassing. Yeah, her Phonic Ear was supersonic, which was cool since Cece could hear all kinds of juicy stuff she shouldn’t, but sometimes she would hear the kids say mean things as well. Cece just wants a true friend. Will Cece find a friend? Will she ever get the hang of wearing the Phonic Ear? Read the graphic novel, El Deafo, by Cece Bell to read about the author’s real life adventures. (Prepared by: Shannon Ryan, Lake Carolina Elementary Upper Campus, sryan@richland2.org, South Carolina Book Awards, 2017)