The author of the popular Sock Monkey series, Cece Bell has written a graphic novel memoir. In El Deafo, she writes about her hearing loss at an early age and her subsequent experiences with the Phonic ear, an awkward but powerful hearing aid.
Her bio reveals that Bell grew up in Virginia. After graduated with a degree in illustration and design, she worked freelance for all kinds of projects but now is a full-time author and illustrator. She and her husband have two children and several dogs. The family lives in an old church and she works in a new barn right next door, which is featured here.
Bell’s first attempt at publication got rejected and so she put waited to try again until a better idea came along. When a better idea came along, she made a dummy version of it and sent it to Candlewick Press in 2000. Three months later, she got a phone call asking her to make a few changes. Once the changes were made and approved, she signed a contract with Candlewick, and three years later, Sock Monkey Goes to Hollywood was published.
Her best ideas come when walking one of the family’s dogs or every time she and her husband go to Wendy’s without their kids. She usually writes ideas on pieces of paper, which she sticks in the top drawer of her desk. When ready to start working on a new book, she looks at all those scraps of paper and pick ones that is most appealing—or combines a few into one story.
Bell always writes the story first, trying very hard to get it as perfect and streamlined as possible. Once she is satisfied with the story, she does a bird’s eye view of the whole book on one piece of paper, to try to figure out the pacing and that sort of stuff. Usually she’ll edit the words at this point as well. Then she’ll enlarge the tiny drawings, scan them into her computer, and use Freehand to lay out the book with text. After printing a version, Bell will ask her husband to read it and makes a lot of changes based on his comments.
When Bell visits schools, she asks for volunteers from the audience. Then the volunteers and Bell present one of her Sock graphic novels like a play with scripts and simple costumes. She also teaches the kids how to draw all the characters in her books and introduces them to the original stuffed animals that started it all. Bells prefers to have an interactive program, as it takes some of the pressure off to perform the whole time.
If she were to pursue any other careers, despite possessing little musical ability, Bell has fantasized about being a really good jazz pianist who could play anytime and anywhere—at the drop of a hat.
If you want to know even more about Cece Bell, watch the below video interview:
I’ll review El Deafo tomorrow. Save the date: October 7!
Book Blogs
members read, blog, write, and publicize books
Children's Book Review
helping adults to grow readers by offering reviews and book lists of the best books for kids of all ages, as well as interviews and literacy-based articles
Fourth Musketeer
Reviews of historical fiction and nonfiction for young people
From the Mixed-Up Files
group blog of middle-grade authors celebrating books for middle-grade readers.
Kid Reads
info about favorite books, series, and authors for kids
Kids Right To Read
Offers support, education, and advocacy to people facing book challenges or bans and engages local activists in promoting the freedom to read.
Midwest Review
major Internet resource of reviews for publishers, writers, librarians, booksellers, and book lovers of all ages and interests
Nonfiction Monday
Rounding up the best nonfiction for children and teens.
Teen Text Talk
reviews and teacher advisories for young adult literature
Américas Award for Children’s & Young Adult Literature
CLASP founded the Américas Award in 1993 to encourage and commend authors, illustrators and publishers who produce quality children’s and young adult books that portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States.
American Library Association Awards
awards include Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott, Sibert, Theodor Giesel, and Laura Ingalls Wilder medals
Children's Book Awards
The Children’s & Teen Choice Book Awards is the only national book awards program where the winning titles are selected by children and teens.
Christy Award
The Christy Awards are awarded each year to recognize novels of excellence written from a Christian worldview.
Cybils
children and young adult blogger literacy awards
Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award
The Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award was initiated in 2000 to recognize authors, illustrators, and publishers of high quality fictional and biographical books for young people that appropriately portray individuals with developmental disabilities
Hans Christian Anderson Award
The Hans Christian Andersen Awards is given to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature. The award is the highest international recognition an author can receive.
Middle East Book Award
The Middle East Book Award recognizes quality books for children and young adults that contribute meaningfully to an understanding of the Middle East and its component societies and cultures.
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award
Honors fantasy books for younger readers, in the tradition of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia
National Book Award
Established in 1950, the National Book Award is an American literary prize administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
Red House Book Award
The Red House Children’s Book Award is a series of literary prizes for works of children’s literature published during the previous year in England.
Sydney Taylor Award
The Sydney Taylor Book Award is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
Top Ten Tuesday
Born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
YALSA Awards
YALSA honors the best teen literature each year with its six literary awards, including Alex, Morris, and Printz.
Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind
blog about children’s and YA books set in Asia, with Asian characters or characters of Asian descent, and with Asian authors and illustrators or of Asian descent.
IBBY
international network of people from all over the world who are committed to bringing books and children together
Jewish Book Council
book list curated by the Association of Jewish Libraries, which fosters access to information, learning, teaching and research related to the Jewish experience
Latinos in Kid Lit
Exploring the World of Latino YA, MG, and Children’s Literature
Oyate
educational organization that reviews children’s literature and advocates for Native Americans to be portrayed with historical accuracy and cultural appropriateness
Paper Tigers
emphasis on books set in Pacific Rim and Asia
Sea Stacks
information about Atlantic Canada books for children and young people
The Brown Bookshelf
push awareness of the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers.
Saturday Snapshot
To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and write a caption for it.
Six Word Saturday
All that’s necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words.
Wish List Wednesday
Post about one book per week that has been on your wishlist for some time, or just added, that you can’t wait to get off the wishlist and onto your wonderful shelves.
Feline Friday
All you have to do is post a picture of a cat on your website.
Saturday Review
Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week.
February 20, 2015 at 12:09 pm
Cool!
February 20, 2015 at 7:38 pm
Thanks for your visit!