The Evans family is in Williamsburg next week -- one of Matthew's favorite places. He'll go anywhere he can find a rollercoaster. They also spent vacation time there two years ago and obviously liked it.

He had wanted to go to New York to see "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway. He said he's seen it at Popejoy but not in New York. He likes playing the music on the piano, says it's a favorite.

Helen Evans told me Matthew will be on Anderson Cooper on CNN one night next week. He should be taping early in the week. Apparently after Matthew did an interview on CNN after the Reader's Digest Word Power Challenge, Mr. Cooper wanted to talk with him again after the national bee. (Did I use the word "after" enough?)

One thing you can say about Matthew: He isn't shy on camera. He's a good interview, smiles a lot and laughs. For reporters talking to kids under 18, that's a huge help.

Matthew also said he intends to study the dictionary more and concentrate less on his word lists for next year's bees. He said three of his words weren't on any of the lists he studied. He expects more words to come directly from the dictionary and not from any lists national puts out.

I've wondered how much help the Word of the Day does here, but the regional bee word list is mostly made up of of words used in previous bees. It should still be great information for spellers preparing for the regional bee, as well as local and county ones..

If you haven't heard it before Webster's Third New International is 12.5 pounds -- daunting to say the least. I'm glad I don't have to read it much less study it.

Posted by Jan at 09:09 AM | Permalink