Chrissie Woodward is up in arms: after the debacle the spelling bee became, someone deserves to be fired--but a week later, no one has been. She presents her case notes to the school board, along with interdepartmental memos from staff and depositions from her fellow students: Jennifer, whose parents want her to win so badly her dad breaks into the school to steal the master word list; Mutual, the homeschooled kid who just enrolled at their school, despite his parents' fears of germs, corruption, and immorality; Harlan, the class clown; and Jake, who has a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The whole town is caught up in the excitement, but there's something fishy going on--why is Principal Floren so intent on leveling the field for Mutual? And who are the two old ladies around town, grilling all the kids on their chances in the bee? Leave it to Chrissie Woodward to find out!

This is a light, funny middle-school mystery. Each character has his or her own part in the conspiracy, and as the chapters unfold, their contributions and motivations become clear. The pacing is excellent, with clues dropped at appropriate intervals to assist the crime-busting readers. Each chapter is told from a particular character's point of view, but this is the only real problem with the book--the characters' voices aren't distinct, so readers must rely on context and chapter headings to know who is speaking. The mystery is wrapped up relatively neatly without any big leaps of logic, keeping it accessible and realistic to amateur sleuths. Middle-school readers will enjoy this quickly-paced mystery, and will be glad to hear that Selzer is already drafting a sequel. ( )

Spelling Bee expert, Chrissie Woodward, works as a detective at her school, trying to prove that their principal is NOT as honest as he says he is!

Sixth Grade spelling bee
will spell your way to history
Enter the gambling
and participants scrambling
but its the parents that cheat
who spoil it the spelling meet. ( )

When Gordon Liddy Community School's resident tattletale-detective, Chrissie Woodward, realizes that the adults are out to fix the big spelling bee, she transfers her loyalty to her fellow students and starts collecting evidence. Told through in-class letters, administrative memos, file notes from Chrissie's investigation, and testimony from spelling bee contestants. ( )