Thanks to everybody who spent Saturday night spelling with us.  We had a full house with 35 amazing spellers who powered through seven rounds of increasingly difficult words.

Not everybody made it to the finals.  Dianne took home a special “She Tried It” prize for being the first speller eliminated.  A tiny mistake on “colossal” took her out of the running.

Between rounds spellers and spectators alike delighted in some lunch box treats as well as some decidedly more adult beverages.  In true back to school spirit, attendees also learned a bit about banned books, posing with their favorite challenged book for a mug shot.

Check out the rest of the mug shots at www.ireadbannedbooks.tumblr.com where you can submit your own banned book photo.  You can also stop by the library any time this week and get booked.

Then came the Death Match.  Our final six spellers faced ridiculously tough words like “Reykjavik” and “scilicet.”  In the end, one speller emerged at the champion.  Patricia dominated the stage with her perfect spelling of “tagliatelle,” and was rewarded with a lovingly bedazzled trophy and gifts from Fly Bird.

Kenanna, Cheryl, Jill, Kristen, and Tom gave Patricia a run for her money during the final round.  Our five runners-up shared the spoils, each taking home a trophy or something special from Fly Bird.

Thanks again to the Friends of the Library for making this and other library events possible, as well as Megan Owdom-Weitz for her great poster design and our fearless bartender Danielle. And of course, we couldn’t have done it without Rory and her ever helpful sentences or Ed and his sweet bee duds.

Check out all of the photos on the library’s Flickr page and watch here for more after hours events from genre X.