Illustrated by Kitt Thomas
4 stars
A sweet story about a love of words, perseverance, and using your words to help others. Stacey loves learning new words. When she’s asked to participate in a spelling bee, she jumps at the chance to learn even more. But will her fear of making a mistake get in the way of what she loves?
Great themes of working hard, trying your best, being a courteous, and speaking up for yourself and others.
The artwork is gorgeous. I loved the use of color to capture Stacey’s imagination and how the various words Stacey learn were incorporated into the illustrations. Features diverse characters with different hair styles and skin tones.
At the end is an Author’s Note about the real-life spelling bees that inspired the story. There is also a list from Stacey’s Notebook of Extraordinary Words with definitions and added notes.
Beautiful and heartwarming. Also highly recommend the follow-up book, Stacey’s Remarkable Books.