NAVIGATION
New to First Book?
Join us to connect with thousands of fellow educators and access exciting educational events and resources for you and your students.
We use cookies to keep our site secure, improve your experience, and understand how our content is used. You can accept all cookies or decline non-essential ones.
New to First Book?
Join us to connect with thousands of fellow educators and access exciting educational events and resources for you and your students.
Authored by First Book Staff on February 1, 2022
Posted in: Author Voices
On January 7, the First Book family celebrated theEl Deafopremiere on AppleTV, written and illustrated by long-time friend, donor, and author Cece Bell. Truly a wonderful human being and supporter of First Book, Cece and her husband Tom Angleberger, have always been generous when it comes to the First Book mission and helping to put books in the hands of those who need them the most.
We also love Cece because of the way her books beautifully address ableism and how hard it can be to make friends at school. In Cece’s graphic novel memoir, she chronicles her hearing loss at a young age and her subsequent experiences to fit in, make friends, declare a place for herself in the world, and find the friend she's longed for.
El Deafoisavailable for purchase on First Book’s Marketplacefor eligible educators and comes with a free reading guide, designed to promote social and emotional learning skills necessary for kids to manage their emotions and behavior. If you’re not a Title I educator but want to support First Book, you can purchaseEl DeafoatBookshop, where 10% of purchases directly support our mission.
Curious to learn more about Cece? Dive into this beautifully honest interview that made us smile and think about how we can make people laugh more often.
My graduate school illustration professor and mentor, Jerry Kalback. I wouldn’t be a writer if I hadn’t been an illustrator first — I got into writing via illustration, if that makes sense. Jerry “discovered” me after I sent slides of my undergraduate work to the printmaking department at Kent State University. (I had NO idea what I was doing with my life at that time, and printmaking sounded like my best bet.) Somehow, Jerry got ahold of my slides and must have thought to himself, that’s no printmaker! That’s an illustrator! He actually called me up at my parents’ house (where I was living while working at a dentist’s office, of all things) to encourage me to visit the illustration and design department at KSU. Tom and I were about to get married; we drove eight-and-a-half hours up to Kent from the southwestern part of Virginia so I could tour the department. After one hour of talking to Jerry (who happened to be one of the kindest, and also one of the funniest, people I’d ever met), my mind was made up: I was going to KSU, and I was going to be an illustrator. Anytime I added goofy stuff and silly words to my illustrations, Jerry got excited. He’d mention children’s books as a possible career for me, and I’m sure one of the reasons I pursued kids’ books is that I wanted to make him proud. Jerry Bee in my book
If you meanliterallyright now, then: Tough times make stronger humans. And there are good days and bad days, but the good days make everything worth it. Make stuff and help others. In fact, make stuff andgiveit to others. It’ll make you feel really good.
We love the idea of putting books into the hands of kids who don’t always have easy access to them. I remember that, as a kid, book ownership always felt big and bold. And I was a very privileged kid. So imagine how much bigger and bolder book ownership is going to feel like for someone who doesn’t have that same access I had. Books can help kids to feel less lonely, and they can inspire them to forge paths out of difficult situations. To those who are thinking about helping, I’d quote First Book’s mission and say, wouldn’t you like to help “build a path out of poverty through educational equity?” I sure do!
I’ve been 100% involved from the very beginning — Apple has been a wonderful partner. It kept me so busy that I couldn’t focus on any of my book projects! I’ve made lots of new friends, especially TV icon Will McRobb, who was my co-writer and co-exec-producer. I had to educate many people along the way about my particular “brand” of deafness, but everyone was more than willing to listen and take everything I said into consideration. There were some bumps along the way, and I had to adjust my definition of what “adaptation” means, but I’m really thrilled with the result and am so grateful for the hundreds of people who worked hard to make it all happen.
Honestly, mostly I want readers to laugh! And as sappy as this sounds, I hope that my books remind people that there is real fun in being nice to each other.
I take care of my family. Do a lot of cooking, a lot of dog walking, a lot of driving Tom nuts with repetitive humor. Read too much news. Read too much celebrity news. I love to sew — that’s my go-to non-work art thing, and it’s what I do after reading too much news (especially the celebrity stuff, ha ha) to help settle myself down.
I love making people laugh. I want to keep making people laugh, so I keep trying to make funny stuff. I also love those early phases of story-making, when it’s a big puzzle that you are trying to solve. It’s so gratifying when those pieces start really fitting together well.
How are yousogood-looking?
Educators can join First Book’s network — the largest and fastest-growing network of educators, schools, and programs serving children in need across the United States and Canada — to bring these titles to your classroom and to gain access to even more free resources.