Cece is diagnosed with meningitis after falling critically ill and permanently loses her hearing during recovery.

Cece is fitted with her first hearing aids at the audiologist.

Cece attends a special school for deaf children where teacher Dorn teaches her and her classmates to lip-read.

Cece's family moves to a new home and she starts first grade in a mainstream classroom with the Phonic Ear.

Cece realizes the Phonic Ear lets her hear her teacher anywhere in the building, including the bathroom.

Cece imagines herself as a superhero who uses the Phonic Ear as a superpower and creates the identity El Deafo.

Cece befriends bossy classmate Laura but grows increasingly frustrated with Laura's cruelty over two school years.

Cece confronts new friend Ginny about calling her 'my deaf friend' and their friendship abruptly ends.

Neighbor Martha introduces herself to Cece, and the two quickly bond over shared love of the same TV shows.

After their first sleepover, Cece realizes Martha fully accepts her deafness and names Martha El Deafo's True Friend.

Cece runs into a tree branch during a game of tag, injuring her eye and requiring an eye patch.

P.E. teacher Mr. Potts accidentally drops and breaks the Phonic Ear microphone, leaving Cece without it for weeks.

Cece reveals the Phonic Ear's secret abilities to Mike during a school event, and he declares it a superpower.

Cece uses the Phonic Ear to monitor the teacher's location and acts as a lookout for classmates during quiet math time.

Cece gives Martha a warm fuzzy, they reconcile, and Cece reveals her identity as El Deafo to Martha.

Cece's story begins when a sudden illness permanently destroys her hearing as a young child, forcing her to navigate a world built for people who can hear. After receiving hearing aids and learning to lip-read in a special school, she moves to a new neighborhood and starts mainstream classes equipped with a powerful new device called the Phonic Ear. The Phonic Ear's extraordinary range inspires Cece to see herself as a superhero, and she creates the alter ego El Deafo — a brave version of herself who embraces her difference rather than hiding from it. A string of difficult friendships teaches Cece that acceptance cannot come at the cost of her dignity, until she finally finds a true friend in Martha, a neighbor who loves her without conditions. A painful falling-out with Martha, followed by a series of small victories in which Cece uses her Phonic Ear to help and connect with others, restores her confidence. The story ends when Cece reconciles with Martha and reveals her full self — including her identity as El Deafo — showing she has finally learned to embrace who she is.

Cece's journey from hearing loss to self-acceptance as El Deafo.

Cece's parents rush her to the hospital after she falls suddenly and dangerously ill.

Cece notices something is wrong during her recovery when the television suddenly stops making sense.

Cece undergoes strange hearing tests at the audiologist, including listening to a large bell while blindfolded.

Cece reunites with friend Emma after school ends, but Emma laughs at Cece's lip-reading misinterpretations.

Cece feels isolated when neighborhood children bond over the radio, which she cannot understand clearly.

Laura lets her dog attack Cece and stops Cece from making new friends at Girl Scouts.

Cece watches soap operas at home and her siblings patiently explain the plot points she misses.

Cece attends Ginny's sleepover birthday party but asks to go home when the lights go out and conversation becomes impossible.

Cece's hearing aid battery dies during the first sign language class at church, leaving her in silent confusion.

Cece and her mother see a couple arguing passionately in sign language at an ice cream parlor.

Mike Miller invites Cece and Martha to jump on his family's trampoline.

Cece gets glasses and discovers they dramatically improve her ability to lip-read from a distance.

Classmate Johnnie breaks Cece's special curly pencil at the bus stop, causing her to sob and run home.

Cece and Mike are chosen to perform together in a school-wide event wearing matching pajamas.

A guidance counselor leads a warm fuzzies lesson, and Cece secretly decorates her bag with a hidden image of El Deafo.

While the main arc of El Deafo is driven by Cece's search for identity and belonging, the texture of her world is built from smaller, vivid moments that reveal just how much her deafness shapes every corner of her life. Her illness begins with a frightening rush to the hospital, and even after recovery her family must navigate a series of adjustments — from audiologist appointments to new schools to a move across the country. Each friendship Cece attempts brings its own specific frustrations, from Laura's cruelty to Ginny's overbearing pity, and even a well-meaning sign language class becomes a source of humiliation rather than empowerment. Social situations like sleepovers and neighborhood gatherings expose the daily invisible barriers Cece faces, whether it is the darkness that makes lip-reading impossible or music on a radio she simply cannot enjoy. A romance with neighbor Mike Miller develops slowly through shared moments on his trampoline, in school performances, and in a neighborhood experiment that finally makes the Phonic Ear seem cool rather than strange. The story closes with a school lesson on kindness that gives Cece a concrete, physical way to reach out to the people she loves.

The everyday moments and relationships that shaped Cece's childhood.

Cece loses sight of her mother one day at home and realizes she can no longer hear her mother's call.

Cece is overwhelmed by a flood of garbled, confusing sounds when her hearing aids are switched on for the first time.

Cece walks into her first special education class and discovers she is not alone — all her classmates share her experience.

Cece sees a character called Deafo mocked in an after-school special and defiantly claims the name El Deafo for herself.

Cece feels relief rather than sadness when she and Laura are placed in separate classes for third grade.

Cece lashes out at her mother over the sign language class and convinces her mother to stop attending.

Cece musters the courage to approach Mike and demonstrates the Phonic Ear's extraordinary long-range hearing to him.

Cece vows to hide her hearing disability from Martha to protect their fragile new friendship.

Martha notices that Cece turned off her hearing aids at their sleepover and responds with laughter rather than pity.

Martha blames herself for Cece's eye injury and abruptly withdraws from the friendship, devastating Cece.

Mike forces Johnnie to apologize to Cece for breaking her pencil, but Cece fears Mike only pities her.

Cece calls herself Helen Keller lite at the bus stop trying to joke with Martha, but Martha flees in distress.

Cece channels El Deafo's confidence during the Presidential Physical Fitness test and breaks a school record.

Martha tells Mike she misses Cece during the Phonic Ear distance experiment, and Cece hears every word through the device.

Cece receives warm fuzzies from classmates all day, including one from Mike, giving her the courage to finally approach Martha.

El Deafo is built around a series of pivotal moments in which Cece's understanding of herself and her world shifts in ways she cannot undo. The earliest turning points are quiet and private — the moment she realizes she cannot hear her mother, the flood of chaotic noise when hearing aids are first switched on, and the unexpected relief of finding a classroom full of children who understand what she goes through. As Cece grows older, her turning points become more about agency: she claims the name El Deafo as her own, she pushes back against her mother's sign language class, and she decides to hide her deafness from Martha rather than risk losing yet another friend. A painful eye injury and its aftermath force both Cece and Martha to confront guilt, loss, and the fragility of friendship, while a series of moments with Mike chip away at Cece's certainty that she is only pitiable. By the final chapters, Cece's inner and outer worlds have converged — the courage she once reserved for El Deafo becomes real courage, and she is finally able to act on it in the world she actually lives in.