Eleven year-old Akeelah Anderson's life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom ignores her, her brother runs with the local gangbangers. She's smart, but her environment threatens to strangle her aspirations. Responding to a threat by her school's principal, Akeelah participates in a spelling bee to avoid detention for her many absences. Much to her surprise and embarrassment, she wins. Her principal asks her to seek coaching from an English professor named Dr. Larabee for the more prestigious regional bee. As the possibility of making it all the way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee looms, Akeelah could provide her community with someone to rally around and be proud of -- but only if she can overcome her insecurities and her distracting home life. She also must get past Dr. Larabee's demons, and a field of more experienced and privileged fellow spellers.
Written by Shannon Patrick Sullivan <shannon@mun.ca>
The final word spelled by Dylan is logorrhea. This is the winning word from the documentary
Spellbound which tracks several participants in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bell in 1999.
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Goofs
Factual errors:
Akeelah watches the Scripps National Spelling Bee on ESPN right before her school's event on April 14th. The Scripps event is held in late May or early June and ESPN usually does not broadcast old competitions.
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