For children’s author and illustrator Cece Bell, early childhood was a time of real confusion.

“I remember thinking that maybe going to the hospital and losing your hearing was some kind of ‘rite of passage,’” she said via email.

For many years, Ms. Bell never even admitted to being deaf. It’s only with last year’s publication of “El Deafo” that the author speaks openly about it.

“El Deafo” is an autobiographical graphic novel that chronicles how the author lost her hearing as a result of contracting meningitis at age 4. With the help of a powerful hearing aid, the Phonic Ear, Ms. Bell was able to re-enter the mainstream school system.

“El Deafo” won a 2015 Newbery Honor for best book for young readers. It was the first time the award committee recognized a story told in graphic form.

Ms. Bell will speak at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall as part of the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures Kids and Teens series. Ms. Bell also has written and illustrated the 2013 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book “Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover” and picture books “Bee-Wigged,” “I Yam a Donkey!,” “Itty Bitty” and three books about a sock monkey who makes it into showbiz.

In “El Deafo,” Ms. Bell draws herself with rabbit ears and nose; with the Phonic Ear, she transforms from a child with a disability to “El Deafo,” a child with superpowers. Ms. Bell’s teacher wears a microphone that allows the youngster to hear in the classroom but gives her superpowers when the teacher forgets to take it off while going to the teachers lounge or the bathroom.

Portraying herself as a rabbit was not just about the cute factor.

“Rabbits were the perfect visual metaphor for my experience,” she said. “Rabbits have big ears and amazing hearing. As the only kid in my school who was deaf, I felt like the one rabbit whose big ears didn’t work.”

Ms. Bell first began writing about the experience of being deaf on a blog intended for adults. After she read the autobiographical graphic novel “Smile” by Raina Telgemeier, she realized she wanted to tell her story in graphic form for younger readers.

The main reason? Speech balloons.

“Speech balloons helped me show the reader exactly what my character is hearing, or not hearing — a very important thing to show in a story about deafness,”  she said. “[They] also allowed me to show the reader the way I experience speech as a deaf person who uses hearing aids.”

The balloons also add to the book’s sense of humor. A friend asks, “Do you want some cherry pop?” But she hears, “Doo yoo wan sum Jerry’s Mop?” A thought balloon shows the hilarious, impossible image.

Ms. Bell connected her love of cartoons with picture book storytelling. Without close captioning and lips to read, there was no way she could follow cartoons.

“I remember trying to guess what the characters were saying and coming up with my own stories to go with what I was seeing on the screen — and when you think about it, the TV’s ‘pictures,’ plus my own words, may have been an early form of my own picture book writing,” she said.

Ms. Bell admits that her other books, in retrospect, may be interpreted as also dealing with deafness. “Bee-Wigged” is about a bee who dons a wig in order to fit in with the kids at school. She compared the bee’s wig to her hearing aid.

“Looking back on all my work, I probably without even realizing it … was ‘writing what I know,’ ” she said. “[A]fter I finished ‘Bee-Wigged’ in particular, I thought, huh, this is kinda autobiographical. A giant bee who is not like any of the other school kids but wants to make friends? And that has to wear something ... to be more like the other kids? That’s me!”

Julie Hakim Azzam is a visiting lecturer in the English Department at the University of Pittsburgh. Twitter: @JulieAzzam.

First Published: November 4, 2015, 5:00 a.m.