The Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee
India Wimple can spell. Brilliantly. Every Friday night, she and her family watch the Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee on TV. When the Wimples suggest she enter the next Bee, India feels nothing but trepidation. She's sure she's not good enough – but with the support of her family, India finds the courage to sign up.There are plenty of obstacles to reaching the finals, like Summer Millicent Ernestine Beauregard-Champion, a spoiled rich girl who isn't afraid to step on anyone who gets in her way of winning.
The whole thing seems rather calamitous to India. But with hope, hard work, and a little bit of heart, something splendiferous might be on the horizon...
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**My thoughts**
India is a girl after my own heart. She loves words and spelling and dreams of a winning a spelling bee. But she also has horrid stagefright. But she finally decides to take a chance and enters the spelling bee that she and her family regularly watch.
India has amazing support from her family, the Whimples, and all of Yungabilla. And she is fiercely devoted to them, willing to sacrifice her dreams for her brother Boo's health and her family's financial status. It shows how she has a big heart and how doing good for others can lead to others doing good for you.
The book also gives a peek into how parents can be completely overbearing in the name of winning and how much pain they cause when spoiling and ignoring their kids. India is one who is able to step up and be a friend to these kids, in spite of their treatment. It's a great lesson for kids on kindness. And parents should take note of the horrible behavior of these other parents and what they do their kids' self esteem.
Each chapter is headed by a vocabulary word with definition and sentence example. It's a great not-so-subtle unconscious way to impart some new vocabulary on readers. I got a kick out of that part.
Overall, a fun read for elementary kids that they could enjoy on their own or that could lead to some good classroom discussions.
Thank you to NetGalley for my review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
