Overview

Raven Jefferson never expected she'd be a mother at sixteen like her best friend, Aisha. Now she's stuck being just another high school dropout, a project girl with few prospects. Or maybe not; Raven does have ambition. Still, when is she going to find the time to finish school? All her time is spent looking for a job or taking care of her son, Smokey. Then her older sister, Dell, tells her about a spelling bee that promises the winner a full college scholarship. But spelling? There isn't a subject she's worse at! Yet Raven is fiercely determined to find a way to get her life back on track. So she starts memorizing words. There's no reason not to try. . . .

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9780312603885

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Spellbound is the rarest of books, funny and moving at the same time. . . . Thank you, Ms. McDonald, for writing this wonderful, fun, and touching book. --Christopher Paul Curtis, winner of the Newbery Medal for Bud, Not Buddy This first novel is read-aloud funny, even as it tells the harsh truth about how hard it is to break free. . . . What's great in this novel is the depiction of the grim reality of the neighborhood and the slick cliches of success. Best of all, [McDonald] humanizes the individual people behind the stereotype. -- Booklist, Starred Review

Uses a chorus of highly authentic, lively young voices to convey heartbreaks and dreams . . . [Raven's] ability to turn her life around defies the notion that girls like her and Aisha are stuck on a dead-end street.

Author Information

Janet McDonald (1953-2007) is the author of the adult memoir Project Girl. She is the author of three books set in the Brooklyn projects: Chill Wind, for which she received the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent; Spellbound, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; and Twists and Turns, an ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and lived in Paris, France.

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