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American Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "David Tidmarsh is breathing like a runaway pony..." (more)
Key Phrases: Ning Yan, New Jersey, Samir Patel (more...)

4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

To the fans-those who've caught the ESPN broadcast of the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee or the documentary Spellbound, among other outlets for the increasingly popular competition-Maguire's efforts to enliven his esoteric subject matter may prove superfluous, but his deft portrayal of the heart-stopping competition the Bee inspires will certainly catch the attention of the uninitiated. His profiles of the young spellers are amusing, occasionally touching and always impressive. The spellers' affinity for language leads to some great feats: David Tidmarsh, the 2004 champion, studied the entire Webster's Unabridged dictionary; Samir Patel, the 2005 runner-up, studied word lists all day, even while eating. Maguire's adulation for the spellers at times leads to excessive description, a problem complicated by the number of competitors, though his focus does eventually hone in on ten spellers competing in the 2005 Bee. His portraits of these spellers' preparations and personalities-Samir Patel's charming on-stage presence or Kerry Close's latent competitiveness-gives the reader ample reason to play favorites, giving the book a welcome touch of suspense. In addition, an impassioned description of the evolution of language in America sheds a new light on the Bee, and the worthiness of these competitive spellers' alacrity for the subject.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Maguire, author of Impresario: The Life and Times of Ed Sullivan (2006), gives voice to our current national obsession with spelling bees. Focusing on the annual National Spelling Bee held in Washington, D.C., which features 250 finalists chosen from an initial pool of 10 million, Maguire paints a vivid portrait of the unique culture surrounding the event and its "geek chic" overtones. In clear, accessible prose, he gives the contest the high drama of a sporting event while profiling five extremely bright, precocious participants and their diverse ethnic backgrounds. As the stress of the competition kicks in, spellers variously faint, shout their words, clutch talismans, and hyperventilate. Maguire also details the history of spelling bees and of the English language and reveals the logic behind the compilation of the master list used in the national competition. What comes through most clearly here is the truly democratic nature of the bee and its spellers--the kids come from all kinds of schools, towns, ethnicities, and class levels--and the impassioned love of language that drives them. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

Hardcover: 370 pages
Publisher: Rodale Books (May 16, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594862141
ISBN-13: 978-1594862144
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #205,651 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category: (What's this?)
#40 in Books > Reference > Words & Language > Spelling

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
David Tidmarsh is breathing like a runaway pony. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Ning Yan, New Jersey, Samir Patel, Champion's Profile, Comfort Room, Kerry Close, Aliya Deri, New York City, Marshall Winchester, Jacques Bailly, Webster's Unabridged, Old English, United States, Anurag Kashyap, Grand Hyatt, David Tidmarsh, North Carolina, Jamie Ding, San Diego, Consolidated Word List, Paige Kimble, Fort Worth, Mary Brooks, Los Angeles, Noah Webster

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 43 books:

Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson on 4 pages
The Hoosier Schoolmaster: A Novel by Edward Eggleston on page 58, page 63, and Back Matter
The American Language by H.L. Mencken in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Story of English: Third Revised Edition by Robert McCrum in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Canterbury Tales (Barron's Book Notes) by Chaucer on page 148, and page 151

See all 43 books this book cites

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Customer Reviews

26 Reviews

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From One Who Knows, October 4, 2006

By	Henry Feldman (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Up front I will confess my prejudice about this book: I'm in it, albeit as a minor historical character. For me the spring months of 1958, 1959, and 1960 were largely taken up by study of word lists, culminating in three shots at the National Spelling Bee.

But James Maguire mostly has fresher fish to fry: real time spent with real kids who compete in the modern Bee, lately popularized through television broadcasts on ESPN and ABC. If teenaged kids and their strivings to find identity and accomplishment have any appeal for you, you will enjoy this account.

This has been a very good year for spelling bees. ABC put the 2006 final rounds on prime-time TV. The film "Akeelah and the Bee" vividly captured the home-front and on-stage drama of the Bee, taking off where the 2002 documentary "Spellbound" left off. Starbucks promoted the film with an attractive sprinkling of coasters, coffee collars, mugs, and flashcards decorated with foot-long winning words from the national Bee. The musical "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" continues to play on Broadway and in regional companies.

Now James Maguire gives us a broad and entertaining journalistic book on the subject. He profiles five competitors in depth, having befriended them, visited their homes, and hung out with them among family and friends as they balance "normal" schoolwork and activities with the single-minded pursuit of exotic words and etymology. He follows them to the national competition in Washington, which equals any major-league sporting event in risk and suspense. In between episodes, to break the tension, he light-heartedly fills us in on the mottled history of English words and dictionaries, making it clear how and why we reached the hopeless confusion of modern spelling.

Maguire is an engaging writer and does complete justice to the Bee experience. He brings out the themes of ambition, concentration, luck, anxiety, coping with failure, and support of family as they play out over the considerable age range of the competitors -- anywhere between 9 and 14. Just as most of us enjoy sports dramas whether or not we ever kicked a ball straight, I believe all of us, former spellers or not, can recognize ourselves in these kids as they set an impossible goal and go for it.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read, September 11, 2006

By	Jacqueline Grossman - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Maguire does a stellar job engaging the reader's interest in the characters. He does more than interview them, he spends time with their families, learns their hopes, dreams and fears, which puts many an adult to shame with their incredible work ethic and study habits. We learn that the kids are not automatons but well-rounded kids who often excel in many subjects. For anyone who has competed in competitions, one can appreciate the drive and loneliness one incurs in working towards a goal. There is definite drama and as an excellent speller, I came away impressed with the kids' abilities and determination. The book is not a narrative, there are interviews with prior champions and a history of the English language included. I wholeheartedly recommend American Bee.
-- Jacqueline and Jeremy

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captures the Bee experience!, January 2, 2007

By	Burt (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

James Maguire has written a fascinating account of the National Spelling Bee in American Bee. The work discusses the broad history of the spelling bee in America, focusing on the National Spelling Bee, as well as bringing us stories of particular spellers. As someone who's made it to "the show" as a finalist (86 and 87), this book really resonated with me. The essential speller experience -- hours spent drilling words; the thrill of (and sometimes disbelief at) winning a regional bee; the excitement of the big event in Washington DC; the camaraderie of the spellers; the gut-wrenching nervousness waiting on-stage; the agony of being eliminated; and the aftermath -- these are all accurately recounted in the book and brought back great memories.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Misses the Elephant in the Room!
Spellers of Indian-American descent have won the Scripps Spelling Bee in seven out of the last eleven years, even though they represent less than 1% of the American population... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Loyd E. Eskildson

3.0 out of 5 stars Another book sized-collection of articles
I went into this book with some high hopes. Kids! Spelling! How could you beat that? And, a quick flip through the pages said the same. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Shimon Hova

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful and engrossing
I found Maguire's book a suspenseful read about the people involved in the National Spelling Bee. It's one of those non-fiction books that tie you to your childhood interests and... Read more

Published 23 months ago by R. D. Kirby

4.0 out of 5 stars An actual speller's point of view
On the whole, this is a very good book, and you should definitely buy it. The author uses words very well and his in-depth reports on real spellers were engaging. Read more

Published 23 months ago by A satisfied but slightly disgr...

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring
Seems like too often we read news stories describing how our country is going downhill. Reading this book has been a wonderful antidote. Mr. Maguire says: "... Read more

Published on July 14, 2007 by Miguel

5.0 out of 5 stars Spelling and Parenting
My 11-year-old daughter steered me to this book because of her interest in entering the spelling competition. Read more

Published on January 5, 2007 by Edward M. Sills

5.0 out of 5 stars Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
AMERICAN BEE is a great slice of Americana. James Maguire brings, a seemingly mellow subject of the Spelling Bee to new excitements, if only I had I known Spelling Bees were that... Read more

Published on October 10, 2006 by Natalie Borresen

5.0 out of 5 stars recommended reading for "word nerds"
American Bee is a sports story (the Bee is shown each year on ESPN), a story for kids, adults, and a story about our difficult, quirky English language. Read more

Published on September 26, 2006 by Colleen Bachna

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding and detailed reading for leisure browsers as well as fans of literary history
AMERICAN BEE: THE NATIONAL SPELLING BEE NAD THE CULTURE OF WORD NERDS follows the lives of five top spellers as they compete, but also provides a background history of world... Read more

Published on August 18, 2006 by Midwest Book Review

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