Hillbrook Houses

In Janet McDonald's powerful and funny novel, a smart and resilient young woman whose life isn't what she dreamed it would be learns that there are many ways to spell SUCCESS. Raven's life has been derailed. She never expected she'd be a mother at sixteen like her best friend, Aisha, and she's afraid she's going to be just another high school dropout, a project girl with few prospects. And, although Raven is ambitious, when is she going to find the time to finish school in the few minutes she's not looking for a job or caring for her infant son, Smokey? Then her older sister, Dell, tells her about a spelling bee that promises the winner enrollment in a college prep program and a scholarship. But spelling? There isn't a subject she's worse at! Still, Raven is fiercely determined to win, and so she starts memorizing words.

A tough and funny project girl manages to make that chill wind blow away in Janet McDonald's sequel to Spellbound. The good life, according to Aisha Ingram, is easy. It's hanging with friends, dancing, listening to music, whatever ... but it doesn't include worrying about the future. Chilling out is her mantra until she receives a sixty-day termination-of-welfare-benefits notice. Without her monthly food stamps and assistance checks and with no help from the father of her two children, Aisha's life threatens to become a little too "chilly." The clock is ticking and she doesn't have many options, but one thing she knows for sure: workfare is not for her. There's no way she's going to scrub subway cars or sweep city sidewalks. Aisha tries to come up with other ways to get money, but things don't look good. Soon another notice comes: only thirty days left. Then she sees an ad on TV for BIGMODELS, and she figures she might as well check out the agency. After all, she is pretty enough. But just when it looks like Aisha's problems might be solved, things grow crazy again. In Aisha, Janet McDonald has created a larger-than-life heroine who finds and succeeds at what is right for her.

Janet McDonald introduces readers to two sisters who discover that all you have to do is stick together to handle life's many twists and turns. It may have taken them an extra year or two to do it, but the Washington sisters finally graduated high school, and this definitely calls for a celebration. But after the party ends, then what? The girls have no plans. Unlike their smart best friend Raven Jefferson, who's away at college, and their nerdy best friend Toya Larson, who's in computer training, and their overall best friend Aisha Ingram, who's rocking in TV commercials, Keeba and Teesha are still hanging out on neighborhood benches as if nothing's changed. Then an older friend convinces the sisters that they, too, have a skill — braiding hair — and why not make a business of it? With a loan from Aisha, the Washingtons open TeeKee's Tresses in a rented storefront, and the future looks pretty solid ... that is, until a rival's jealousy, a landlord's greed, and a politician's scheme turn the sisters' world upside down.