The aim of the Watching series is to draw attention to some of the very interesting items around us, things that perhaps we don't notice as much as we might. The first was Bridge Watching, and when this was put ''on the Net'' it produced, to the surprise of the author, such a pleasant flood of e-mail that another was written, called Water Watching. This, too, was kindly received. So it was tempting to continue with the theme. Many people know very little about bells, and some, sadly, know nothing at all. This is a pity for, large or little, they can be engaging objects. You might think that ''Bell Hearing'' might be a better title; but looking at bells has its own attraction, too. In England, church bells are well known, because of the sounds they make, though many people have not seen the bells themselves. Doorbells, too, are familiar items in many houses, but are rarely regarded with any particular interest. Some of these are not what is popularly imagined as bell-shaped, and are more properly chimes. Then there are bicycle bells, cowbells, and many other kinds, too, all well worth a thought. Things that are free are doubly attractive. It costs nothing to enjoy the pleasures of getting to know these interesting objects. Learning a little about the fascinating qualities of bells in general can be an enjoyable occupation, and can start a lively curiosity about them. The more you know about them, the more interesting they become.

#1 New York Times Bestseller! Now an Apple+ Animated TV Series! Winner, John Newbery Medal What does it take for a student with hearing loss and a hearing aid to become a superhero!!?!? Starting at a new school is scary, especially with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest! At her old school, everyone in Cece’s class was deaf. Here, she’s different. She’s sure the kids are staring at the Phonic Ear, the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. Too bad it also seems certain to repel potential friends. Then Cece makes a startling discovery. With the Phonic Ear she can hear her teacher not just in the classroom but anywhere her teacher is in the school—in the hallway . . . in the teacher’s lounge . . . in the bathroom! This is power. Maybe even superpower! Cece is on her way to becoming El Deafo, Listener for All. But the funny thing about being a superhero is that it’s just another way of feeling different . . . and lonely. Can Cece channel her powers into finding the thing she wants most, a true friend? El Deafo is a book that will entertain children, give hearing-impaired children a hero of their own, and challenge others to consider an experience unlike their own. Like other great works for children, it provides the opportunity for young readers to consider how they would act or react in a similar situation, helping to build empathy and understanding through the power of story.

Winner of the 2020 Comics Studies Society Edited Book Prize Contributions by Kylie Cardell, Aaron Cometbus, Margaret Galvan, Sarah Hildebrand, Frederik Byrn Køhlert, Tahneer Oksman, Seamus O’Malley, Annie Mok, Dan Nadel, Natalie Pendergast, Sarah Richardson, Jessica Stark, and James Yeh In a self-reflexive way, Julie Doucet’s and Gabrielle Bell’s comics, though often autobiographical, defy easy categorization. In this volume, editors Tahneer Oksman and Seamus O’Malley regard Doucet’s and Bell’s art as actively feminist, not only because they offer women’s perspectives, but because they do so by provocatively bringing up the complicated, multivalent frameworks of such engagements. While each artist has a unique perspective, style, and worldview, the essays in this book investigate their shared investments in formal innovation and experimentation, and in playing with questions of the autobiographical, the fantastic, and the spaces in between. Doucet is a Canadian underground cartoonist, known for her autobiographical works such as Dirty Plotte and My New York Diary. Meanwhile, Bell is a British American cartoonist best known for her intensely introspective semiautobiographical comics and graphic memoirs, such as the Lucky series and Cecil and Jordan in New York. By pairing Doucet alongside Bell, the book recognizes the significance of female networks, and the social and cultural connections, associations, and conditions that shape every work of art. In addition to original essays, this volume republishes interviews with the artists. By reading Doucet’s and Bell’s comics together in this volume housed in a series devoted to single-creator studies, the book shows how, despite the importance of finding “a place inside yourself” to create, this space seems always for better or worse a shared space culled from and subject to surrounding lives, experiences, and subjectivities.