(psst...let’s see if the Whole Language crowd shows up now)
OK- I’ll be the one and only:
...he said. “She’s a better speller than me.”
he should have said: “She’s a better speller than I.”
...and immediately they were better spellers than me,...
as you should have said: ...and immediately they were better spellers than I,...
“I” is a nominative pronoun and is used as a subject of a sentence or clause, while “me” is an objective pronoun and used as an object.