4.5 stars. El Deafo is an adorable middle grade graphic memoir. It is both sad and sweet with a good story of resilience. The illustrations are super cute. There is a lot to learn from this story about friendship, compassion, and empathy. I appreciated that the author was clear to state at the end of her book that her personal experience is not one that represents the entire deaf community and that her opinions and actions with regard to her deafness were very much personal. I did struggle a little bit with her attitude as a child, but embraced the fact that this was her story and children do not always react in the way that we think they might...or have the opinion that they should. I appreciated the honesty even though I felt that some messages could have been more strongly brought across with some alteration to the protagonist.