Akeelah Anderson
Akeelah Anderson , a bright 11-year-old who never makes errors on her spelling tests, attends Crenshaw Middle School, a predominantly black school in South Los Angeles. She lives with her widowed mother, Tanya , her three siblings Kiana, Devon, and Terrence, and Julito, and her infant niece. Her principal, Mr. Welch suggests that she sign up for the Crenshaw Schoolwide Spelling Bee. She follows his advice and ends up winning easily. Soon after, Dr. Joshua Larabee , a visiting English professor and Mr. Welchs friend from college, tests Akeelah and decides that she is good enough to compete in the National Spelling Bee. However, Dr. Larabee declines to coach her because she is rude to him. As a result, Akeelah studies on her own to prepare for the district spelling bee. Although Akeelah misspells her word during the final round of the bee, she qualifies for the regional bee when her sister Kiana catches the other finalist cheating. She also meets and befriends Javier Mendez (J.R. Villarreal), a 12-year-old Mexican American boy and fellow speller. Javier invites her to join the spelling club at his Woodland Hills middle school.
At Woodland Hills, Akeelah meets Dylan Chu , a Chinese American boy who had won second place at the past two national spelling bees. Contemptuous, he asks her to spell “xanthosis”. When she starts with a “z”, he tells her she needs a coach. At the conclusion of the spelling club meeting, Javier invites Akeelah to his birthday party. At the party, Akeelah nearly beats Dylan in Scrabble. The boy is reprimanded by his father for nearly losing to “a little black girl”. After the party, Tanya is depressed at her husbands death and concerned about her daughters grades and frequent truancy, so she forbids Akeelah from participating in the upcoming state bee. To circumvent this prohibition, Akeelah forges her late fathers signature on the consent form and secretly studies with Dr. Larabee. During the state bee, Tanya comes inside and interrupts her daughter before she can spell her word. However, Tanya relents after a side discussion with Dr. Larabee and Mr. Welch. In the meantime, Javier protects Akeelah from disqualification by stalling until she can return. Dylan, Javier, and Akeelah advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.