Cece Bell

Bell suffered hearing loss as a child due to a case of meningitis. As a result, she had to get used to using bulky and prominent hearing devices around her school-age peers.

Bell attended the Paier College of Art as an art major and went on to get a graduate degree in illustration and design at Kent State University in 1991. She became a freelance commercial artist, illustrator, and designer for an array of projects before beginning her career as a full-time author-illustrator.

El Deafo is based on Bell's own childhood. She wanted there to be a handbook for hearing people so they knew how to understand and communicate with deaf people without being disrespectful. The project eventually evolved into a graphic novel where children who were deaf could see themselves positively represented in a book.

Bell uses the imagery of everyone illustrated as rabbits as a visual metaphor. When she was growing up, she felt like she was the only "rabbit" whose ears didn't work, in doing so she shows being deaf as a power. She also shows and talks about how being deaf isn't something negative.^[2]

The title of the graphic novel comes from the idea that Cece feels powerful like a superhero with the assistance of her Phonic Ear, the hearing aid she uses in order to hear her teachers at school.^[3]

Bell is married to children's author Tom Angleberger.^[4]

Bell won the Newbery Medal Honor^[5] and Eisner Award^[6] for El Deafo.

Five of Bell's books are Junior Library Guild selections: Sock Monkey Rides Again (2007),^[7] El Deafo (2014),^[8] Rabbit & Robot and Ribbit (2016),^[9] Smell My Foot!: Chick and Brain (2019),^[10] and Egg or Eyeball? (2020),^[11]

In 2014, El Deafo was named one of the best books of the year by The Horn Book Magazine,^[12] Kirkus Reviews,^[13] the Los Angeles Public Library,^[8] Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal.^[8] It was also a New York Times Notable Children’s Book.^[8]

In 2019, Smell My Foot! was named one of the best books of the year by the Chicago Public Library and School Library Journal.^[10]

• Busy Buddies: Silly Stuff That Goes Together (2006, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-0-7636-2776-8)
• Food Friends: Fun Foods That Go Together (2006, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-0-7636-2777-5)
• Bee-Wigged (2008, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-0-7636-3614-2)
• Itty Bitty (2009, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-0-7636-3616-6)
• El Deafo (2014, Harry N. Abrams, ISBN 978-1-4197-1020-9)
• I Yam a Donkey! (2015, Clarion Books, ISBN 978-0-5440-8720-0)
• Chuck and Woodchuck (2016, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-0-7636-7524-0)
• You Loves Ewe! (2019, Clarion Books, ISBN 978-1-3285-2611-3)
• Animal Albums from A to Z (2024, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-1-5362-2624-9)

1. Sock Monkey Goes To Hollywood: A Star Is Bathed (2003, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-0-7445-9850-6)
2. Sock Monkey Boogie Woogie: A Friend Is Made (2004, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-0-7636-2392-0)
3. Sock Monkey Rides Again (2006, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-0-7636-3089-8)

1. The Sleepover (2012, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-0-7636-7935-4)
2. Rabbit and Robot and Ribbit (2016, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-0-7636-7935-4)

1. Inspector Flytrap with Tom Angleberger (2016, Amulet Books, ISBN 978-1-4197-0948-7)
2. Inspector Flytrap in The President’s Mane Is Missing with Tom Angleberger (2016, Harry N. Abrams, ISBN 978-1-4197-0955-5)
3. Inspector Flytrap in The Goat Who Chewed Too Much with Tom Angleberger (2017, Harry N. Abrams, ISBN 978-1-4197-0956-2)

1. Smell My Foot! (2019, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-0-7636-7936-1)
2. Egg or Eyeball? (2020, Candlewick Press, ISBN 978-1-5362-0439-1)

• The Best American Comics 2016, edited by Roz Chast and Bill Kartalopoulos (2016, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN 978-0-5447-5035-7)
• Lunch! (2016, Random House Books for Young Readers, ISBN 978-0-5535-1264-9)
• Funny Girl, edited by Betsy Bird (2017, Viking Press)

• The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee, written by Tom Angleberger (2012, Harry N. Abrams, ISBN 978-1-4197-0392-8)
• Bug Patrol, written by Denise Dowling Mortensen (2013, Clarion Books, ISBN 978-0-6187-9024-1)
• Crankee Doodle, written by Tom Angleberger (2013, Clarion Books, ISBN 978-0-5478-1854-2)