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Cede Bell's graphic novel "El Deafo" if a cross between auto-biography and fiction chronicling her childhood experience with deafness. She was about four years old when a serious illness caused her to be "severely to profoundly" deaf. Bell's states that her book is focuses on her feelings of embarrassment and loneliness as a child due to her deafness, but she adds a twist - she begins to realize that although her deafness makes her different, that can be a good thing. She refers to the benefits of her deafness as her "super powers". The graphic novel format, helps the readers to understand, through the visuals, what Bell's is feeling as she learns to deal with her hearing loss. I like the book. It was nicely done, and will certainly help elementary students develop a better understanding of how people feel and deal both with deafness and perhaps other "disabilities". Being a fifth grade teacher, I felt the language was a little too "baby" and not real enough for me. It does seem to match language often used in the graphic novels that I have read. Overall, I liked the book, in the hands of the right student, if can be very powerful. Did not fall in love with the book.