‘Bee’ beginning tedious, but just keep reading

“American Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds”

by James Maguire (Rodale Books, 370 pages, $24.95)

America can’t resist a good spelling bee, and artists of every entertainment genre know it.

“Spellbound,” the 2002 documentary Oscar nominee; “Akeelah and the Bee,” its fictional sibling; and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” a musical, all play off the stress that young logophiles (logophile: n. lover of words) suffer through in hopes of winning the National Spelling Bee.

James Maguire’s “American Bee” is the most recent addition to the spelling bee bandwagon. Maguire tries to document the spelling bee and its history by stepping into new territory – literature. He almost delivers.

Maguire’s profiles of the most dedicated spellers, with their idiosyncrasies and rigorous study habits, are hilarious and eye-opening, and spelling along during the bees shows just how difficult the words become (sphygmomanometer, anyone?).

During the bee scenes, Maguire’s writing makes the suspense during each speller’s turn seem real, and he has mastered the bee mentality: parents, hired coaches, eight-hour study sessions and all.

Those 250 pages are a funny, interesting read. If Maguire had started “American Bee” there, the book would have been a successful blend of fact and rumor, suspense and comedy.

But he didn’t, and the beginning of the book is what stops “American Bee” from being truly exceptional. The first few chapters are the driest and most tedious, leading one to believe that all of “American Bee” will be just as boring – which it isn’t. It just takes more of a textbook mentality to appreciate.