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Cece Bell
The author Cece Bell at school, where the cords of her hearing aid made her feel so conspicuous: I always wished there was a ‘manual’ that hearing people could refer to, that could help them understand and communicate with deaf and hard of hearing people better. Photograph: Cece Bell
The author Cece Bell at school, where the cords of her hearing aid made her feel so conspicuous: I always wished there was a ‘manual’ that hearing people could refer to, that could help them understand and communicate with deaf and hard of hearing people better. Photograph: Cece Bell

Cece Bell: I wanted to show what it felt like to be the only deaf kid at my school

This article is more than 8 years old
Whiteheath Book Ninjas and Cece Bell

An interview with the author of a remarkable, Newbery honour-winning, graphic novel El Deafo, based on Cece Bell’s own childhood growing up with hearing problems. The Whiteheath Book Ninjas got to find out why she wrote it

Why did you choose to tell the story of El Deafo as a comic/graphic novel, did you write it other ways first?

I always planned to write El Deafo as a graphic novel. I wanted to use speech balloons — which are used to great effect in almost all graphic novels — to show exactly what my character is hearing (or not hearing) throughout the story. I also don’t consider myself a very good descriptive writer, and much prefer using pictures to describe a scene or an emotion. The book did start out as a detailed outline first, though — so in a way, I did write it a different way first.

Was El Deafo based on your own childhood?

Yes, it sure was!

It’s quite unusual to read a book about children with hearing difficulties, is that why you wrote el Deafo?

That is partly the reason. I always wished that there was a “manual” that hearing people could refer to, that could help them understand and communicate with deaf and hard of hearing people better. That desire for a manual was sort of the springboard for the whole book… and it turned out that a lot of deaf kids are benefiting from seeing themselves in a book, and from having others read about someone like them.

El Deafo pullout
Cece Bell’s heartwarming graphic novel is based on real life events from her own childhood. Photograph: Cece Bell

Did you use your friends’ real names and characters or change them a bit for the book El Deafo?

Some of the characters’ names are real, and some aren’t. The names of the people in my family are all real, for example. Martha Claytor and Mike Miller are also real names. (I asked permission first — even though it meant finally admitting to Mike Miller that I had had that big crush on him! But “Mike Miller” is the perfect all-American-boy-next-door name. I had to use it!) I changed my teachers’ names and the names of most of the friends… mostly because I knew I wasn’t being fair to them (a kid’s memories are not always fair, after all), and I wanted to protect their identities and feelings.

How many other books have you written – and are they anything like El Deafo?

I’ve written about 12 published books (some are not out yet but I’m working on those now)—and none of them are like El Deafo, except for the fact that they are (almost) all about friendship, and they are all funny. Most of the other books are picture books, with the exception of two early reader books about a rabbit and a robot. Oh yeah, now that I think of it, Rabbit & Robot also has a rabbit character in it (obviously), so that’s a little bit like El Deafo! I’ve also illustrated books for others… and have written a few books that were ultimately rejected. :(

Will you be writing another graphic novel aimed at our age?

I hope so! But sometimes thinking about doing all that work all over again is quite daunting. I can’t guarantee it, that’s for sure.

Are all of your books based on real life?

In a way, most of my books are based on real life — it’s more like they’re based on situations that I have experienced, or on emotions that I have felt. There’s this advice that young writers hear all the time: “Write what you know.” I like to say, “Write what you know, but then make it weirder.” For example, I could re-imagine a certain situation that I have been in… as if it had been experienced by a pig!

What do you like best, writing the words or drawing the pictures - and which do you do first?

I always do the writing first. In fact, I don’t start illustrating a book until I feel like the story is really, really solid—close to being “perfect,” in fact. I don’t even worry about whether or not I can draw certain things that are in my story—I just hope for the best. As to which part of the process I like better… when I first got started in this business, I think I liked illustrating better, because I didn’t have as much experience as a writer, and so I was less confident about it. Now that I feel like I have a handle on the writing, I actually like the writing a bit better. Part of this is because I know I’m not the greatest illustrator ever, and when I look at the work of superior illustrators, I get nervous and less confident. And there is soooooo much of that superior talent out there! I probably shouldn’t compare my skills as an illustrator with other illustrators’ skills — it’s not always healthy! — but I have to admit that I do.

How did you get the idea to draw everybody as rabbits?

I wanted to show what it felt like to be the only deaf kid in my elementary school. I needed a good visual metaphor, and rabbits, with their big ears and amazing hearing, were perfect for that. Essentially, I felt like the only rabbit whose big ears didn’t work — I had the ears for show, but little else. Also, drawing the cords of the hearing aid so that they went above my head into rabbit ears (as opposed to having them go into my actual ears) perfectly captures how conspicuous I felt as a kid.

Do you like rabbits and did you/do you have a pet rabbit?

I love rabbits, and when I was a kid, they were my favourite animal. But I never did have a pet rabbit, and I don’t now. I have dogs, though, and I love ‘em.

Did you have a teacher that inspired you to be an author? Tell us about him or her?

I had several teachers who noticed that I might have a knack for telling stories with words and pictures. Near the end of my senior year of high school, my English teacher gave us the option of creating an unusual autobiography (instead of taking the final exam), and he loved what I made so much and made me feel so good about it. I had a few wonderful art teachers in college who encouraged me to be goofy with my art, and suggested children’s books as a possible career. In graduate school, I had three professors who I adored, and one in particular, any time I added text to my art assignments, would say, “I think you need to be a writer as much as you need to be an illustrator.” I was lucky to have so many encouraging teachers!

What books did you love to read when you were nine or 10 years old? What would you recommend we must read?

My favorite books at that age were the ones by Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. I also LOVED the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder,
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. When I look at this list, I realize that I wanted to read about strong girls in all sorts of time periods and situations. I liked real-life stories about real girls! I was still loving picture books and early reader books at this point, too—especially my all-time favorite book, Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen, and the early readers by Arnold Lobel and James Marshall. I’d recommend all of these if you can get hold of them!

Do you like stories with a happy ending?

Absolutely! Thanks so much for your great questions and for your interest in El Deafo!

Cece Bell’s graphic novel El Deafo is available at the Guardian bookshop.

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