Follett Content Book Detail: How Do You Spell Unfair? : Macnolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee by Weatherford, Carole Boston

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How Do You Spell Unfair? : Macnolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee

Author: Weatherford, Carole Boston

Follett Number: 2625TA0
Audience: Upper Elementary
Publisher: Candlewick Press, 2023
Format: 1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 29 cm
ISBN-13: 978-1-53621-554-0
ISBN-10: 1-53621-554-6
LCCN: 2022-908641
Dewey: 305.896
Classifications: Nonfiction

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Teacher's Guide

Subjects:
African American Students
African Americans Biography
Cox, Macnolia
National Spelling Bee
Race Discrimination
Spelling Bees
Women Biography
A true story of determination and groundbreaking achievement follows eighth grade African American spelling champion MacNolia Cox, who left Akron, Ohio, in 1936 to compete in the prestigious National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., only to be met with prejudice and discrimination.

From the publisher:
A Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book "This moving picture book portrays a girl who met injustice with dignity and excelled."--Booklist (starred review) From a multi-award-winning pair comes a deeply affecting portrait of determination against discrimination: the story of young spelling champion MacNolia Cox. MacNolia Cox was no ordinary kid. Her idea of fun was reading the dictionary. In 1936, eighth grader MacNolia Cox became the first African American to win the Akron, Ohio, spelling bee. And with that win, she was asked to compete at the prestigious National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC, where she and a girl from New Jersey were the first African Americans invited since its founding. She left her home state a celebrity--right up there with Ohio's own Joe Louis and Jesse Owens--with a military band and a crowd of thousands to see her off at the station. But celebration turned to chill when the train crossed the state line into Maryland, where segregation was the law of the land. Prejudice and discrimination ruled--on the train, in the hotel, and, sadly, at the spelling bee itself. With a brief epilogue recounting MacNolia's further history, How Do You Spell Unfair? is the story of her groundbreaking achievement magnificently told by award-winning creators and frequent picture-book collaborators Carole Boston Weatherford and Frank Morrison.

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  • Booklist starred (February 1, 2023 (Vol. 119, No. 11)) (217 words; 1,411 chars)
  • Horn Book Magazine (March/April, 2023) (237 words; 1,457 chars)
  • Kirkus Reviews starred (March 1, 2023) (229 words; 1,514 chars)
  • Publishers Weekly starred (January 23, 2023) (170 words; 1,112 chars)
  • School Library Journal starred (June 1, 2023) (202 words; 1,270 chars)

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