Only two weeks until my graphic novel/memoir El Deafo is released! September 2nd is gonna be a good day. The book is about my experiences as a deaf kid trying to function in a hearing world, and it is also a celebration of the technology that I was using in school during the mid-seventies and early eighties. That technology was called the Phonic Ear, and here it is in all its glory in the book:
It worked together with a microphone that my teachers wore, kind of like this:
Here’s a picture of my Phonic Ear:
And here’s a picture of the microphone:
So, our old friend Sock Monkey (who has perfect hearing, I might add) wanted to know what was so great about the Phonic Ear. (He doesn’t understand any kind of fuss if it’s not related to him in some way.) He asked me if he could try it out. His good friend, Miss Bunn, tried out the microphone. (If you know my older Sock Monkey books, you might remember that Miss Bunn is a big part of Sock Monkey’s fictional world. She’s also in El Deafo; my grandmother made her and I received her when I was in the hospital. She was a huge part of my childhood. See if you can spot her in the following four panels!)
Anyway, here’s Sock Monkey and Miss Bunn in a photo comic, messing around with technology (and it’s a real shame that I still haven’t mastered the technology for lighting a photograph):
Mark your calendars for September 2nd! In the meantime, check out the last book in Tom Angleberger’s Origami Yoda series, Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus! It’s already out. And it’s awesome!
Love this post. The new book sounds SO good, Cece (love the video you made, too). Congrats! (and September 2nd is a good day; it’s also my wedding anniversary).
Thank you, Jama! I will raise a toast to you and your husband on the second (or near about that time)!
How heavy is your phonic ear?
Heavy! But not sure how heavy…I’ll try to weigh it sometime when I have access to a digital scale…Thanks for asking!