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Sweet Valley Kids #21
Jessica and the Spelling-Bee Surprise
Jessica Wakefield is thrilled when she wins the second grade spelling bee at Sweet Valley Elementary School. But that means she has to represent the whole school at the district spelling bee, and she's scared. She's never been a good speller—was it just beginner's luck?
- GenresChildrensMiddle Grade
73 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1991
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,150 books1,882 followersFrancine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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June 2, 2024Jessica and the Spelling Bee Surprise
The day Elizabeth and Jessica go back to school after having their tonsils out they find out they’ll be having a spelling beed. The second grade class is up first. Jessica doesn’t think she can compete with Liz but she wins spelling the word GORILLA correctly. (Liz left out one of the L’s).
Her classmates all congratulate her. Winston teases the twins and asks if this is one of their pranks. Jessica is just glad it’s over. But it’s not. Lila tells her she’ll have to compete in a bigger spelling bee. (the district spelling bee). She doesn’t want to but her teacher tells her it’s a honor. It’s in a week. She says she’ll try but she’ll need Liz’s help.
When Jessica talks to Liz later she tells her she doesn’t know about the spelling bee. The only reason she won is because she worked out how to spell the word from Liz and Bobby’s mistakes. Liz tells her that’s not true because she believes that jess is a good speller and didn’t just get lucky. Jessica tries to convince Liz to take her place but she adimitly tells her NO! At dinner, Ned tells Jessica how proud he is of her and that they might get their grandparents to visit on that week so they can come to the spelling bee. Ned asks her how it feels to be representing the second grade. Jess says it’s an honor, but Liz can tell she’s scared.
Jessica is watching tv but her mind isn’t on it. She’s thinking of a way to get out of the spelling bee. Steven asks her can he change the change several times. When she doesn’t answer he asks is she deaf. This gives her an idea and she looks up ears in the E children’s encyclopedia and studies the different bones connected with the ear. The next day, Liz finds out Jessica told Mrs. Otis she has a hearing problem. She tells the teacher she might not can hear well on a stage. That way Liz realizes if she gets a word wrong she won’t look stupid. Liz tells her she didn’t have to do that. She told her she’d help her study. They’re talking loudly and some kids over hear them and Jessica tells Liz thanks a lot.
Lila and Winston suggest Jessica switch places with Liz, She tells them Liz won’t do it and gets mad that they don’t have any confidence in her, but thinks deep down they might be right. Winston says since she helped him out with the play he’ll tutor her. So, he and Liz start. Jessica gets a little discouraged but Liz tells her to just think about the words and spell them out.
On the day of the spelling bee, some of the other second graders come up to Liz and ask her to switch places. Liz is surprised to hear they don’t have any faith in Jessica. Then she notices Jessica has come up behind them. She gets mad at them and walks off. Even a third grader comes up to her and thinks she’s Liz. Jessica tho last six rounds. At first, she spells the words quickly, but then she spells them with more confidence. They’re words she and Winston tutored her on. Jessica wins the contest with the word STIRRUM. To celebrate the twins are told they can have a slumber party. Their mother says because her father can’t come, they can finite their great aunt Helen. Now the twins don’t think the party is such a good idea.
Rating 5 I really didn’t have a lot of thoughts for this one. I was trying to remember if we had spelling bees at my elementary school and I really don’t think we did so I didn’t have a lot of commentary. But it was good to actually see Jessica be better at something (or beat) Elizabeth at something academic for a change and to prove she can be smarter than what the series makes her,
The day Elizabeth and Jessica go back to school after having their tonsils out they find out they’ll be having a spelling beed. The second grade class is up first. Jessica doesn’t think she can compete with Liz but she wins spelling the word GORILLA correctly. (Liz left out one of the L’s).
Her classmates all congratulate her. Winston teases the twins and asks if this is one of their pranks. Jessica is just glad it’s over. But it’s not. Lila tells her she’ll have to compete in a bigger spelling bee. (the district spelling bee). She doesn’t want to but her teacher tells her it’s a honor. It’s in a week. She says she’ll try but she’ll need Liz’s help.
When Jessica talks to Liz later she tells her she doesn’t know about the spelling bee. The only reason she won is because she worked out how to spell the word from Liz and Bobby’s mistakes. Liz tells her that’s not true because she believes that jess is a good speller and didn’t just get lucky. Jessica tries to convince Liz to take her place but she adimitly tells her NO! At dinner, Ned tells Jessica how proud he is of her and that they might get their grandparents to visit on that week so they can come to the spelling bee. Ned asks her how it feels to be representing the second grade. Jess says it’s an honor, but Liz can tell she’s scared.
Jessica is watching tv but her mind isn’t on it. She’s thinking of a way to get out of the spelling bee. Steven asks her can he change the change several times. When she doesn’t answer he asks is she deaf. This gives her an idea and she looks up ears in the E children’s encyclopedia and studies the different bones connected with the ear. The next day, Liz finds out Jessica told Mrs. Otis she has a hearing problem. She tells the teacher she might not can hear well on a stage. That way Liz realizes if she gets a word wrong she won’t look stupid. Liz tells her she didn’t have to do that. She told her she’d help her study. They’re talking loudly and some kids over hear them and Jessica tells Liz thanks a lot.
Lila and Winston suggest Jessica switch places with Liz, She tells them Liz won’t do it and gets mad that they don’t have any confidence in her, but thinks deep down they might be right. Winston says since she helped him out with the play he’ll tutor her. So, he and Liz start. Jessica gets a little discouraged but Liz tells her to just think about the words and spell them out.
On the day of the spelling bee, some of the other second graders come up to Liz and ask her to switch places. Liz is surprised to hear they don’t have any faith in Jessica. Then she notices Jessica has come up behind them. She gets mad at them and walks off. Even a third grader comes up to her and thinks she’s Liz. Jessica tho last six rounds. At first, she spells the words quickly, but then she spells them with more confidence. They’re words she and Winston tutored her on. Jessica wins the contest with the word STIRRUM. To celebrate the twins are told they can have a slumber party. Their mother says because her father can’t come, they can finite their great aunt Helen. Now the twins don’t think the party is such a good idea.
Rating 5 I really didn’t have a lot of thoughts for this one. I was trying to remember if we had spelling bees at my elementary school and I really don’t think we did so I didn’t have a lot of commentary. But it was good to actually see Jessica be better at something (or beat) Elizabeth at something academic for a change and to prove she can be smarter than what the series makes her,
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2024
Basically this story is about how Jessica got selected for a spelling bee to represent her school when everyone thought it should be Elizabeth and how she managed to win at the end despite Elizabeth being the only one who believed in Jessica. Highly recommended for kids to learn resilience and believe in themselves.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2013
It’s time for the school spelling bee! Jessica surprised everyone by winning! Pretty much everyone thinks that Jess and Liz pulled a twin switch, and it really starts to bother her that everyone thinks she is dumb. So much that it starts to eat away at her confidence. The only one who fully believes in Jess is Liz, who was not at all jealous - that was nice to read. Jess has to compete in the district spelling bee and overhears all the kids in her class asking Liz to go on in her place. It upsets her, but then it spurs her on and she goes on to win!
My rating - 6/10 - even though the ideas of spelling bees are horrible, I really liked this one!
My rating - 6/10 - even though the ideas of spelling bees are horrible, I really liked this one!
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November 3, 2018I always like the books where they show that Jess is just as smart as Elizabeth is: she just has different priorities. In this one, her friends all treat her as though she's an idiot, so it was particularly nice to see her kicking some spelling-bee butt.
July 26, 2012
Spelling bees have never been my strength, either. I remember she confuses the spellings of "dairy" & "diary" while practicing.
June 22, 2013
I remember the cover but I don't remember the story
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews