Week 4 - Author Study of Cece Bell

    This week, we will be exploring the life and works of Cece Bell, writer of the award winning graphic novel, El Deafo. I will provide examples of how this study could be used in the classroom to help students achieve some key Common Core State Standards in literacy. Finally, I will have another book recommendation and weekly challenge to share with you.

Author Study 

Author: Cece Bell     Grade Level: 1st 

Cece Bell became deaf after falling ill at the age of 4. She grew up mostly in the hearing world, but states that she is very interested in Deaf culture. As a child, Cece loved school, but felt like struggled to fit in with the other kids. She eventually went to college to become a writer, then decided to switch to be an art major so she could learn to illustrate. Her now husband was also an art major. Cece Bell is both an author and illustrator. 

Cece creates her own stories and sometimes collaborates with others. Her stories tend to be focused on issues of friendship, such as jealously, miscommunications, understanding, caring, and sharing. She writes for a range of elementary school ages. She has created picture books for young children and graphic novels for older children, though she says that picture books and graphic novels may as well be the same thing. 

The start to her process for creating children’s literature is to write great ideas on paper, which she then puts into a drawer. When she feels like writing, but isn’t sure what to write about, she chooses 2-3 ideas from this drawer and combines them to create fun, silly content. She writes the story, first. Then, she says she edits away as much of the wording as she can, so that it becomes very simple and meaningful. She then adds illustrations, which she continues to add to until they have a major role in the story.

For more information on Cece Bell, check out the links below:

Blog - https://cecebell.wordpress.com

Twitter - https://twitter.com/cecebellbooks?lang=en

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cecebellbooks/?hl=en

Book 1: Rabbit & Robot and Ribbit                  Genre: Fantasy

Book 2: Chick and Brain: Smell My Foot                     Genre: Fantasy

Standards:

Reading: Literature
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.9
Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.

Writing
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.1
Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.5
With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.

Reading Objectives:

• After reading each book chosen for this author study students will be able to identify two main characters, the setting, and two major events with 80% accuracy. 
• After reading each book chosen for this author study students will be able to use illustrations and details from the stories to describe, compare, and contrast the characters, settings, and events with 80% accuracy.

Reading Assessment:

    For part I of this assessment, students will be given a simple graphic organizer for each story which asks them to recall two main characters, the setting, and two major events. Instructions will be written clearly and given orally. The graphic organizers will be graded for accuracy. 

    The students will then be given the books to use as reference for part II, where they will use a Venn diagram to describe, compare, and contrast the characters, settings, and events from the two stories. The students may analyze illustrations and details from the books to complete this assignment. Instructions will again be written clearly and given orally. The Venn diagrams will be graded for accuracy, corrected after grading, and used to provide information for the writing assessment.

Writing Objectives: 

•     After reading each book chosen for this author study students will analyze the writer’s purpose or theme in a paragraph with an introduction, supportive reasoning, and a closing with a score of at least 80%.
•     After writing their essays from objective one, students will edit their writing with the guidance and suggestions from their teacher and their peers so that their final drafts demonstrate improvement from the original drafts.

Writing Assessment:

    Students will analyze a common purpose or theme of the two books from the author study. They will write a paragraph with an introduction, three supporting sentences, and a closing. This draft will be scored, but only for corrective purposes. Suggestions for improvement will be noted and returned to the student. Students will then pair up to perform peer editing. Once students receive their own papers back, they will use suggestions from the teacher and their peers to correct and strengthen their writing in a new, final draft. At this point, the papers will be graded based on a combination of accuracy and the student’s implementation of suggestions for improvement. Clear rubrics will be passed out with expectations for the final draft.

Overall Activity for Author Study:

    Students will write two to three ideas on slips of paper, then add them to a collective pile. Students will take turns drawing ideas from the pile until each student has chosen two. Students will then combine these two ideas to write a short story. After writing their stories, they will trade off with a partner who will suggest edits to the story. Once the writer makes any necessary edits, they will create three illustrations to accompany their story. Students will gather into small groups of four to five students and take turns reading their stories to one another. After completing this activity, students will discuss this process of writing a story. What went well? What was difficult? Why do you think Cece Bell uses this method for writing, sometimes?

Differentiation for Struggling Readers:
 
    Struggling readers may find humor in the language used in Cece Bell’s stories. The simple, large print is easy to read and follow, while the illustrations improve comprehension. These books will be easy for even struggling readers to enjoy.

Differentiation for Advanced Readers:
 
    Advanced readers will find interesting parallels between the friendships in the books and friendships in Bell’s life, as well as friendships in their own lives. They will be able to laugh at the simple humor while exploring bigger themes and ideas woven into Bell’s literature.

Connections to Art:

 

    Cece Bell is an illustrator, as well as an author. Students could study her illustrations, which masterfully use simple lines, shapes, and colors to express big feelings and ideas. Students could learn to draw a variety of animals using a similar technique. Perhaps they could use precut shapes of construction paper to create an interesting character, then use lines and shapes that Cece uses in her illustrations to add details such as facial features and clothing.

Benefits of Author Study:

    Author studies allow readers and writers to connect the literature they love with the real people behind them. They help readers discover recurring themes and how they connect with experiences from the author's life. They also help us discover an author's style and voice better than when we read just one book.

 

    This author study may teach perseverance and increase empathy for others. Students will learn about how Cece Bell dealt with losing her hearing at a young age but used this to push herself to do well in school. They will learn about how she struggled to fit in with other kids her age and how it made her feel when people treated her badly and how she felt when others treated her kindly and with respect. 

 

    Cece Bell also uses language in an interesting way. She uses silly situations to teach new vocabulary, such as “engrossed”. In Rabbit & Robot and Ribbit, Robot teaches Rabbit that the word means “very interested”, but whenever he hears the word, Rabbit replies “gross”. The words are similar but have very different meanings. Throughout the book, Rabbit uses both words frequently, sometimes even a bit sarcastically. In Chick and Brain: Smell My Foot, Chick tries desperately to teach Brain and Dog to use manner words such as “please”, “thank you”, and “you’re welcome”. He even sometimes calls the other two stupid when they don’t seem to catch on. Meanwhile, Brain is attempting to stop Dog from having Chick for dinner, which Chick does not even notice as he is too engrossed in his manner lessons. This teaches children that language can be very playful and interesting.

Book of the Week 

El Deafo written and illustrated by Cece Bell

    El Deafo is about a young girl who struggles to navigate the social and academic world of elementary school as a student with hearing loss.

Recommended for grade levels 3 - 7 

Why I love this book: 

    This book was written to express the essence of the childhood experiences of the author. It sheds a little light on a topic many students are unfamiliar with, school and social life for deaf students. While the author cautions that her story is her own, and in no way describes the experiences of every deaf student, it does give us a look at the struggles others may experience. This is a great reminder to show kindness to all. The book also shares childhood situations all children can relate to. Bell uses humor and introspection to keep readers engaged. Her illustrations are simple, powerful, and sometimes funny. I absolutely loved this book and devoured it within a day. I then proceeded to read every other book written or illustrated by this author that I was able to get my hands on, either at my local library or in the online library database.

*** WEEKLY CHALLENGE! ***

    This week, find a fun book of children's poetry to read with your child. Some suggestions to look for are A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein, Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl, or The Biggest Burp Ever by Kenn Nesbitt. They're each very silly and will have your kid laughing and pondering creative uses of language. Let me know if you take on this challenge by writing your book choice and your child's reaction below.

References

Bell, C. (2020). Chick and brain: Smell my foot! Walker Books Ltd. 

Bell, C. (2014). El Deafo. Amulet Books. 

Bell, C. (2017). Rabbit & robot and ribbit. Candlewick Press. 

English language arts standards. English Language Arts Standards | Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2021). http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/.