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

by Carole Boston Weatherford (Author) Frank Morrison (Illustrator)

How Do You Spell Unfair?: Macnolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

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.

Select format:
Hardcover
$18.99

Find books about:

ALA/Booklist

Starred Review
Weatherford tells of MacNolia's experiences in concise, direct narrative, while occasionally asking a question such as, "Can you spell discrimination? D-I-S-C-R-I-M-I-N-A-T-IO-N." . . . Capturing the characters' emotions and their personalities, Morrison's vibrant oil-and-spray-paint illustrations are riveting. This moving picture book portrays a girl who met injustice with dignity and excelled.

Kirkus

Starred Review
MacNolia Cox was neither the first African American child to win a national spelling contest (1908) nor the next (2021)--but she was the first even to win a spot as a finalist in all the intervening decades. . . the author pays tribute to the Akron, Ohio, eighth grader's indomitable spirit and focus as well as her love of words while recording the public excitement she caused. . . Spells out reasons to vow N-E-V-E-R A-G-A-I-N.

None

Cox is remembered for her perseverance under pressure, and both the affecting text (with its spelling-centered refrain: "Can you spell dedication?...Can you spell excited?") and brilliantly hued oil- and spray-paint illustrations portray her with dignity while reflecting the intensity of the times. An epilogue reinforces how every victory encourages others.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

In this thoughtfully conceived picture book, Boston Weatherford centers MacNolia Cox (1923-1976), who achieved celebrity status in 1936 after becoming the first African American to win the Akron, Ohio, spelling bee, thus qualifying for the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. The narrative fittingly works in vocabulary words to tell the tale, for example underlining Cox's commitment in preparing for the national bee ("Can you spell dedication? D-E-D-I-C-A-T-I-O-N"). As Cox and her mother set out on their trip to the U.S. capital, where segregation sets them apart from white contestants, words such as famous and excited give way to terms like racism and unfair. Morrison's distinctive portraiture shows the protagonist meeting with Black legends in Akron, and juxtaposes the community support Cox enjoys in her home state with experiences of racial discrimination in the nation's capital. It's a powerful, word-by-word telling of a child's personal triumph. A foreword and epilogue offer a history of spelling bee segregation in the U.S. Ages 7-10. (Apr.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Weatherford cleverly structures this picture book biography around the repetition of the question "Can you spell...?" . . . Smooth oil and spray paint illustrations emanate the characteristic warm richness of Morrison's art, and a balance between the neutral color palette and pops of jewel tones at key moments guides readers' emotional journey through the narrative. . . . Despite stylistic similarities to Weatherford and Morrison's other biography collaboration R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (BCCB 07/20), this story is superb in its own right.
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 

Carole Boston Weatherford
Carole Boston Weatherford, a New York Times best-selling author and poet, was named the 2019 Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award winner. Her numerous books for children include the Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, illustrated by Floyd Cooper; the Caldecott Honor Books Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, and Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, illustrated by Ekua Holmes, which was also a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book; the critically acclaimed Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library, illustrated by Eric Velasquez; and the Newbery Honor Book BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom, illustrated by Michele Wood. Carole Boston Weatherford lives in North Carolina.

Frank Morrison has won numerous awards for his picture book illustration, including two Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards. He previously collaborated with Carole Boston Weatherford on Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual; R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul; How Sweet the Sound: The Story of Amazing Grace; and The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop. Frank Morrison lives outside Atlanta.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781536215540
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Candlewick Press (MA)
Publication date
April 11, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF007120 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Women
JNF029040 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Language Arts | Vocabulary & Spelling
JNF053270 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Social Topics | Civil & Human Rights
Library of Congress categories
-

Subscribe to our delicious e-newsletter!