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Raven never expected to be a mother at sixteen. Is she going to be just another high school dropout, a project girl with few prospects? Could be, except Raven has ambition. Still, when is she going to find the time to finish school? Then her older sister tells her about a spelling bee that promises the winner a scholarship for college. Spelling? There isn't a subject she's worse at. But once Raven's got her mind set, nothing gets in her way...
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 7-12. One of the best of the many recent stories about teens in the city projects, this first novel is read-aloud funny, even as it tells the harsh truth about how hard it is to break free. Raven Jefferson, 16, a bookish student, was sure she was on her way to college like her older sister, Dell--perfect childless Dell, with her big salary and her small hips. But Raven got pregnant after her first sexual experience, and now she's stuck at home, bored and cooped up with a baby all day. Raven's girlfriend Aisha is also a single parent, and their talk--from hair to music to boys--manages to be hilarious, wild, insulting, and irreverent without using curse words. Unlike Aisha, Raven will eventually get to college, but not before she's had to confront issues of race and class prejudice. Many teens, especially fans of the movie
Ghost World, will recognize Raven's cruel encounters with the job scene. McDonald wrote the acclaimed adult memoir
Project Girl (1999), and 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, she humanizes the individual people behind the stereotype of poor people who are 'project trash.'
Hazel Rochman

Copyright -¬ American Library Association. All rights reserved
From School Library Journal
Gr 7 Up-Sixteen-year-old Raven, a once-promising student in spite of her impoverished home and single mother's limited education, has been derailed by the birth of a baby conceived during her first sexual encounter. The father of her child was a stranger to her when they met at a party and doesn't know the extended ramifications of their meeting. Raven finds herself teetering on the brink of forgoing any life beyond her Brooklyn-project apartment, the baby, the only sort of job open to a high school dropout, and her best friend's brash 'welfare recipient' influence. Then Raven's older sister hears about a college prep and scholarship program and goads her into studying for the spelling bee through which program participants are identified. In spite of the baby, in spite of a fast-food job, in spite of her best friend's loud mocking, and in spite of the reemergence of the baby's father into her life, the African-American teen decides to learn to spell so that she can compete, so that she can win. McDonald has created a vital cast of characters, giving them authentic voices and motivations. Even while cheering for Raven, readers will understand her best friend's hesitancy. The baby's father is depicted in both his lack of maturity and his desire to get beyond his parents' prejudices. Raven's mother is strong and reliable, clearly able to cope with the crises life hands her and hers. Among the shelves of novels about teenage girls dealing with unplanned babies, this is a standout.

Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Review
'Spellbound is the rarest of books, funny and moving at the same time.'

'McDonald wrote the acclaimed adult memoir Project Girl (1999), and 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, she humanizes the