How Do You Spell G-E-E-K?

by Julie Anne Peters

The bond between best friends is put to the test as they compete for spelling bee glory in this novel from National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters.

Best friends Kimberly and Ann both have a dream to make it to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Eighth grade is the last year they can qualify, so they are practicing day and night. But when Ann is assigned to sponsor new student Lurlene Brueggemeyer, who turns out to be an amazing speller, suddenly her relationship with Kimberly and her chances of winning the competition are put to the test. If the three girls end up competing against each other for the prize, that can spell only one  t-r-o-u-b-l-e.

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Chapter Books, Middle Grade, Childrens

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Julie Anne Peters was born in Jamestown, New York. When she was five, her family moved to the Denver suburbs in Colorado. Her parents divorced when she was in high school. She has three siblings: a brother, John, and two younger sisters, Jeanne and Susan.

Her books for young adults include Define "Normal" (2000), Keeping You a Secret (2003), Luna (2004), Far from Xanadu (2005), Between Mom and Jo (2006), grl2grl (2007), Rage: A Love Story (2009), By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead (2010), She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not... (2011), It's Our Prom (So Deal with It) (2012), and Lies My Girlfriend Told Me (2014). Her young adult fiction often feature lesbian characters and address LGBT issues. She has announced that she has retired from writing, and Lies My Girlfriend Told Me will be her last novel. She now works full-time for the Colorado Reading Corps.

Reviews

[Swankivy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I liked some of this author's later work about the gritty reality of life as an LGBT teen, so I checked out some of her earlier work. I've been pretty disappointed with it, but especially with this one. It's very similar in content and structure to another one of hers that I disliked--Love Me, Love My Broccoli--and it's just about as soulless, contrived, and full of unnecessarily cruel references.

Ostensibly, this is a story about a girl who is popular and ambitious with her spelling bee "career" having everything she cares about threatened when the story dumps a geek on her and creates an awkward forced circumstance to push them to be friends. You never actually see Ann portrayed as popular, except that some ass clown of a boy whose entire personality is being an ass clown and being cute sometimes pays attention to her and she "gets tingles" because of his gorgeous blue eyes. There's no actual chemistry or common interests, but of COURSE this guy would never deign to ask her out if there's a geeky-looking girl standing near her sometimes. It's going to RUIN EVERYTHING. (Except that after Ann predictably spins on a dime because the geeky new girl laughs at her jokes and now suddenly Ann cares about her, the hot guy being cruel to her deletes the attraction from her mental vocabulary and he's never mentioned again.)

Everything about this story feels forced. The narration contains unnecessary asides with the first-person protagonist telling the reader stuff that is not important or could have been gleaned from watching the interaction. The introductions of the characters contain all my pet peeves, like introductory rambling about family history, characters appearing being displayed with first and last names, a character "tucking a strand of blond hair behind her ear" for visuals, and stuff like that. (Who tucks a STRAND anyway? One strand? Characters in books so frequently have this hair-tucking gesture during their introduction and then never again. That was this book.) It sometimes had an adverb problem, too. We don't need to be told that someone is shoveling their food into their mouth "hastily," because that is already implied in the fact that they are SHOVELING FOOD when the bell rings. I also found "'Grrr,' he growled." Not kidding.

I've mentioned the boy Ann crushes on. Dreamy Brad with sky-blue eyes, who at one point for no reason at all "grabs her arm" and "spins her around," at which points she melts and stares up into his incredible eyes. And while she's leaking all over his shoes he's flipping out about OH MY GOD *WHAT* IS THAT because THERE'S A GEEK nearby, and Ann is privately agreeing that it must be an alien. It reads like the author had never participated in or witnessed a romantic interaction. Same goes for how a boy pestered the geeky girl by "pulling her pigtails" and refusing to stop. (They're not eight. They're teenagers.)

The "stick a student with another student to manufacture a plot" thing was so false it was baffling; Ann wasn't even signed up in any kind of mentoring program, but then some adult in the administration just picks her and pretends her getting saddled with new kid duty has something to do with them both having recently divorced parents. Because this would obviously make them pariahs in 1996 when the book was published. When the counselors stuck Ann with the new girl, they announced glowingly that she was VERY popular as if that would guarantee that she'd make friends. Adults in administration don't tell kids who's popular.

And at one point Ann is thinking about trying to get out of the responsibility but the counselor bears down on her and asks if she's doing okay because AHHHH DIVORCE YOU KNOW and does she need counseling herself, and she decides yes, she has to take the mentoring position because her only other choice is GOING TO COUNSELING and then EVERYONE WOULD KNOW SHE WAS MALADJUSTED. Why? It's not going to be on the morning announcements. Maybe that's not true with this administration though. They made it their business to blast kids' private business all over the place. Ann overheard kids getting yelled at for smoking and punished for wearing clothes that broke dress code, and it's all just hanging out for everybody to know.

Lurlene, the weird new kid, used to be homeschooled and of course therefore everything about her is turned up to geek level eleven. She wears pigtails, has braces that she gets food stuck in, wears homemade clothes and cowboy boots, and is completely oblivious to social cues. Ann immediately hates her, mentally mocks her, cringes when she thinks others might see them together, ditches her whenever she can, and assumes she has an intellectual disability.

The narration, for the record, is not at all kind to that idea. The FIRST thing Ann thinks when she finds out she's getting a student to mentor is panicked worry about whether the girl might be in "special ed," and when her schedule does include introductory classes because they're not sure where to put her yet, Ann's mental narration rattles off the mocking names more typical students have for those classes, such as "Human Experiments in Science," "Teen Skills for the Criminally Inclined," and "Math for the Mental Giant." Ann also makes an inexcusable joke about how one of their teachers "escaped from the mental ward." There was an obligatory fat joke too, when someone was said to be in the heavyweight wrestling division and the narration threw in "we're talking sumo." And can we PLEASE not imply parents are strict by repeatedly literally calling them Hitler??

Same with a bit where the geeky Lurlene gets a sign put on her back, but no, it's not "KICK ME." It's like a paragraph long introducing her by name, encouraging people to say hi to her, and claiming it's Geek Week or something. People don't participate in things like that and people who are popular don't actually do stuff like that to people.

A couple of things seemed possible for cruel popular kids to do--like when some jerk girl dropped an apple core on Lurlene's tray in the lunch line--but other times it was just phenomenally out of proportion. It's like the author is using made-up descriptions of what being a kid was like and doesn't actually remember that there are not perpetual food fights (including THROWN SILVERWARE) going on in the cafeteria and that the jerkiest girl does not have to be identified as "head cheerleader." And of course one of Ann's embarrassing moments was (gasp) being preoccupied with how she's going to handle being seen with the geek and she gets CALLED ON IN CLASS and DOESN'T KNOW THE ANSWER and is MORTIFIED. Sigh. It's like it pieced together all these awful tropes and didn't even really do them right. And again, this book was published in 1996. People did not say "swell" and "it's the pits" and "that was a scream."

And here's the thing. People seem to think Ann is quite funny in the story. She's just a regular riot. Even though none of her "jokes" make much sense and even her narration seems to be attempting a song and dance to entertain us but it's just . . . bad. She "jokes" that because she talks a lot, her nickname is "rrr-Ann Off At The Mouth." . . . No. That's not a nickname anyone calls anyone. And what exactly is this joke? They're at the lunch table trying to figure out how to spell ontogeny, and Kimberly reads the definition: "Ontogeny: The development or course of development especially of an individual organism. Do you need a sentence?" Ann, ever witty, quips, "I'd prefer an individual organism to develop right here. Preferably male. Preferably Brad McKenzie." She wants . . . Brad . . . to . . . develop? Right here? I don't get it. But this is HILARIOUS to the other characters and Lurlene's brays of laughter bring actual stares. This is a hardcore joke here people. And I don't even get how it makes any SENSE.

But maybe in their world, nonsensical bonding experiences are the core of friendship. For instance, at one point they're still in the O's of the dictionary discussing some word involving "osteo-" and Lurlene says her grandmother has the disease and is "getting a hunchback" and that her dad had suggested "shipping her off to Notre Dame" but her mom didn't think it was funny. Well, it isn't. But boy does Ann think it's a hoot. The bees' knees. Quite a scream.

At one point Ann wonders why Lurlene doesn't have a purse or a notebook or anything. The narration points out that she even lacks "the bare essentials like keys, makeup, brush, comb, and a curling iron." What universe do these girls live in? (Ann also never is said to use any of these things while at school and doesn't discuss worrying about her own appearance whatsoever.)

On top of all the little things that irritated the crap out of me, overall this book just had so many things that fundamentally didn't connect. A "big problem" for Ann is that her divorced parents now have an upsetting dynamic where her mom makes excuses and doesn't come to events if her dad is going to be there. This is just worried about throughout the book until finally in the last scene both parents are at her spelling bee and she sees them laughing together. Ta-da! What. And then throughout is the urgent problem of studying for the spelling bee, which Ann alternately has burning dreams of winning or seems resigned to being upstaged and beaten out by Kimberly, whatever's convenient. Half the time she's like "whatever, I'm not going to win, Lurlene might as well take my place" and the other half the time she's like "BUT MY DREAAAAM!!" (There's also a very silly bit where someone gets to participate in the bee only because another contestant got sick at the last minute. Good thing the alternate happened to be there even though she was never told to be, and so nice to see no one said a thing about whether the kid in the hospital getting his appendix out might be okay.)

And there is nothing--except both laughing at cruel jokes and liking to spell--that Lurlene and Ann seem to have in common, so the sudden diehard devotion to Lurlene and intention to defend her from bullies and sacrifice herself in case it would help Lurlene go to the spelling bee just seemed to come from nowhere. It seemed like she was trying to make it complex and it just didn't really work. And there was the dreaded "well everyone hates you because you're different-looking . . . hey let's just GIVE YOU A MAKEOVER!" scene. They actually did it, and it actually did work in making people not even think she's a geek anymore. Just once I'd like to see a popular kid assigned to mentor a geek and have them just never like each other or whatever.

On top of the uneven writing, unbelievable characters, and falseness of the middle school experience, I just didn't like a single person in the story, and the attempts to make them feel layered or multifaceted just made them feel confused and poorly presented. Even if I don't like a book much I usually don't give it one star, but this one I was actively having a bad time reading, so that's how it ended up. Sorry for rambling.

[Kassidy Stephenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

SPOILER ALERT: How Do You Spell Geek? Is a short fiction book about friendship and competition. Basically, it’s about two best friends that were separated , but in the end they were brought together even closer with a new friend. It was published by Julie Anne Peters. I think the theme has to do with accepting new people into your life.

In the beginning , Ann and Kimberly were as close as ever , however, a new girl named Lurlene drifted them apart. Ann thinks that all Kimberly cares about is the spelling competition, which is true. So, Ann and Kimberly got mad at eachother , and Lurlene and Ann got closer. Later in the book, They all made it to the spelling competition , and Kimberly lost. Ann ended up winning , and both Kimberly and Lurlene came to congratulate her. They all decided to be friends and they lived happily ever after.

In my opinion, the book was okay, but the ending wasn’t compete. The book ends with Kimberly and Lurlene both telling Ann that they’re going to help her get ready for the national spelling bee. I think it should’ve continued and went into how they restored their friendship and how Lurlene became accepted by Kimberly. The book as a whole relates to real world problems with friendships. The situation that the girls were in commonly happens at schools today.

Overall thoughts? The end could’ve been better , but the book was good! The author made the book sound interesting by her word choice. So, i rated this book 3 stars.

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[Marisa Maichel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book in an hour. It had a good beginning, an okay middle, but an unsatisfying ending with unanswered questions. Do Kimberly’s parents ease up? What happens to the bullies? Does Ann win the National Spelling Bee?

[jia · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Do You Spell G-E-E-K? is a fast-paced, light, fun and enjoyable read.

Best friends Kimberly and Ann both have a dream to make it to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Eighth grade is the last year they can qualify, so they are practicing day and night. But when Ann is assigned to sponsor new student Lurlene Brueggemeyer, who turns out to be an amazing speller, suddenly her relationship with Kimberly and her chances of winning the competition are put to the test.

One reason I read this book, we needed to read a required number of genre in whole school year. Since my fantasy, sci-fi and mystery table is already full, I needed to set my sights on realistic fiction. I don't usually pick books that are thin, well because they're very fast to read and they don't usually sink it that long.

However, How Do You Spell G-E-E-K? might be a fast read but it's very enjoyable. It's been a while since I've read a realistic fiction book. In terms of plot, it's very typical. Nothing really special but i didn't care; when I pick up this book I knew what to expect and I knew there isn't going to be anything mind-blowing. Well, the book cover intrigued me anyway. Look at it!

I guess it's good to read about girls who really want to have to read dictionaries just to be able to spell all the words. I remembered how I also tried doing that, I'm not even halfway through A's I already gave up. So I appreciate the determination of Kimberly, Anna and Lurlene.

I liked Ann's character, she's very witty, sarcastic and outgoing. Her character is very enjoyable to read and fun. She does have character development along with Lurlene who is the nerd IMO rather than Ann. Well, I've always been called as nerd or geek in school because I read 24/7, but I don't mind because its telling me that I'm working and determined to be the best I can be and I was able to see that also in the characters in this book.

So, I guess that's about it. Well, most of the words mentioned here are not words I've encountered before and the girls are just in middle school. I feel so lame in a way! LOL.

Anyway, How Do You Spell G-E-E-K? is a fun, fast and enjoyable read! You'll be able to finish it in a day, with no regrets!

[Julie Decker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ann and Kimberly have been training as competitive spellers for ages, but now their studying camaraderie and even their friendship is threatened by one thing--or rather, one person. Homeschooled new girl Lurlene is assigned to Ann for mentorship, and everything about this girl is geeky--her appearance, her actions, even her laugh. At first Ann resents that sponsoring Lurlene is scaring away cute boys and interrupting spelling practice with Kimberly, but when she genuinely develops an investment in Lurlene, she wonders if they can't support each other without losing what matters to them.

I couldn't connect with these characters at all, and the writing seemed weirdly out of touch with what kids are actually like in public school. I didn't understand what ultimately made Ann decide to support Lurlene, because for a while it seemed like guilt and obligation and then a switch just flipped without the story saying what it was. Things just sort of happen, with coincidences controlling important circumstances pretty frequently and plot coupons pushing the entire action of the book. It isn't a surprise when the protagonist grows to like the geeky girl either, because I don't think there's ever been a book where "ew I have to mentor a geek OH NO MY REPUTATION" was the major conflict that didn't end in the "geek's" value as a person outweighing the need for the cute boy to ask you out. The spelling bee angle was also so much less interesting than it could have been; we only actually get to see the characters compete at the very end. I was really disappointed in this one, especially since this author has other books that I've loved to pieces.

[Susan Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great story of middle school friendships and how they change. Ann and Kimberley have been best friends for years. They're both spelling bee addicts, and spend most of their spare time quizzing each other from the dictionary in preparation for the upcoming state spelling bee. But lately things have changed: Ann's parents recently divorced, yet Kimberley seems more intersted in spelling than in how hard the divorce has been on her friend. When a new girl comes to town, Ann is assigned by the principal to be her "buddy" - to show her around and introduce her to people. Trouble is, Lurlene is a HUGE geek. She's been homeschool her whole life, and has no idea how to dress or act around kids her own age. Her first day, everyone is already making fun of her and her pigtails and cowboy boots.

At first Ann is embarrassed to be around this weirdo, but as she gets to know Lurlene better, and finds that her parents are also recently divorced, she realizes that Lurlene isn't so bad after all. And after a makeover that Ann suggests, Lurlene doesn't look half bad. Then it turns out that Lurlene is also an excellent speller. When she enters the state spelling bee as well, Kimberley decides that Ann must choose between them. Peters is spot on with dialogue and situations from middle school.

[Sylvia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm starting to enjoy Julie Anne Peters' writings. Her unusual type of story caught me and opens a whole new kind of world for me. This one is no different.

About a popular girl, Ann, asked by the school principal to be a sponsor for a new girl. Shows her way around the school, and make sure she feels welcome after all this time she's been home schooling. Turns out the girl, Lurlene, is a.. well, geek.

Ann's bestfriend, Kimberly, doesn't approve her going around the school with the geek girl. To protect their reputations (according to Kimberly). But after hang out with Lurlene, Ann found a good friend in her, than she has ever found in Kimberly.

Then the conflict began when the three of them enter a spelling bee competition. Kimberly is a winner. Lurlene has a photographic memory. While Ann has never won the first place in nearly every spelling bee competitions.

I won't spoil the surprise by telling you who the winner is. All you have to do is enjoy the book as much as I did.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ann Keller has a lot to deal with this eight grade year: her parents have just recently divorced, her mom moved away, she and her best friend, Kimberly, are studying to get into The National Spelling bee, and she has just been asked by the principal to sponsor the new student, Lurlene, who is a little... different.

Lurlene quickly becomes the class target of bullying. Therefore, Ann quickly realizes things she hadn't seen before in the people around her, including Kimberly and the boy Ann oh-so-desperately wants to go out with.

I think this book would be a good fit for reluctant and struggling readers. It is a quick and easy read of 139 pages with an easy plot line to follow. There are characters and school situations that are easy to relate to for young readers and the story line starts off very quickly.

[Evy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"How Do You Spell Geek?" is a personal favorite of mine, actually. I'm not sure if it was just me, but I believed that the narrator would be the "geek" referred to in this story. I was a bit surprised when I figured out that it was sort of the opposite, but the story played out well anyways. Ann and Kimberly have been best friends for a very long time, and when they first lay eyes on new student Lurlene Brueggemeyer and Ann gets assigned to be her "sponsor" around school, they think this could be the very worst thing that could ever happen to them. But as they always say...never judge a book by a cover, and maybe this book will get a NEW cover. Funny, soulful, and positively WOW, Julie Anne Peters captures exactly what "unexpected friends" means. A must-read for all of those anticipating a great book to read!

[Wesley Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book "How do you spell geek" is about these to girls Kimberly and Ann are in to spelling but Kimberly is way better and cares more for it than Anne but in the end Ann wins the whole thing! But on the way she has trouble with FRIENDSHIP!!!! There is a new student and the principal wants Anne to show her the ropes. Her name is Lurlene but she is a girl with braces and dresses like a cow-girl and has her hair in a pig tail. She is a real geek! But soon they become friends and ruin the friendship between Ann and Kimberly and she has to choose between Kimberly and Lurlene. Read this book and see what challenges she faces to win the spelling bee!

[Mackenzie M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book kept me hanging! I just couldn't put the book down!! I would recomend this book to....... people who like books that are kind of short (page 3-139). The book is interesting, well at least I think so. I thought the book was so good that i am going to read a bunch more of Julie Anne Peters books like Luna, Revenge of the Snob Squad, By the time you read this, I'll be dead, Romance of the Snob Squad, and A snitch in the Snob Squad.

[Megan M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book 4 stars because I thought it was interesting that it was about 2 friends that spilt up after a new girl comes. I like to read realistic fiction books about things that can really happen. I liked that they became friends in the end. I like reading books wear everyone is happy in the ending. It just makes me feel good. I also liked when they were competeing in the spelling bee. I couldn't stop reading at that point because i wanted to see who would win.

[Lorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new girl who has been home schooled and dresses rather unusually enrolls in Public School and Ann has to be her sponsor. Ann and her best friend are practicing for the National Spelling B and this new girl comes between them. This is a story that can relate with a teen age girls as they deal with peer pressure and their own conscience.

[Madison Metzger · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is your favorite part of this book? I would have to say my favorite part of this book was when Ann has to show the new girl around and her name is Lurlene and she isn't the prettiest girl but she has photographic memory.
What came as a surprise to you in this book? I would have to say the part when they all make it to the spelling bee.

[CHEERBUG! · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay it was pretty easy . I learned that you can do anything only if you put your mind to it don't let other's dought you . Just proove those people wrong so they will look stupid. I also learned that you can be ugly,pretty,and all that and still be the bomb!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one. Will add it to my classroom library in the social issues mix. It deals with fitting in and well not fitting in. The cruelty of girls in the middle-school. I think it is really on the rise.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just because an author whose books I love is on a shelf at the library, doesn’t mean I’m going to love each book by the author. This is middle grade book and about three girls competing in the state spelling bee in Colorado. It was ho- hum for me, it may be perfect for you.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short read with pretty realistic characters.

[Diana Pettis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very quick read today. This is definately a book I would recommend to girls in grades 3-5.

[Katie Nunley · Rating 5 out of 5]

it wwas a great book.

[Ally · Rating 4 out of 5]

From my youth. But I liked it.

[Marlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it!

[Susan Reyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written tale of middle school friendship and the stress of fitting in, being new, meeting your parents' expectations, dealing with divorce, and striving to be the best. Realistically depicts the struggles of that age.