At 16, Raven has dropped out of school to have her baby boy, Smokey. Her best friend Aisha is also in the same situation. Raven had been making payments on her class ring and graduation gown but that's all out the window. Dell, her older sister who's gone to college and works as a legal assistant, feels Raven could have done better than become a welfare mama with a project booty. She wells Raven about Spell for Success, a spelling bee in which the winner wins a four-year college scholarship. Raven thinks Dell is crazy especially since Raven can't spell. She finally decides to give it a try. In the meantime, Raven runs into Jesse, the baby's father. Jesse had no idea Raven was pregnant and now Raven faces eating dinner with Jesse and his upper-class parents and wondering if Jesse can save her from a life with no prospects.

Spellbound
By Janet McDonald
Janet McDonald was born August 10, 1953. She died April 11, 2007. Janet McDonald lived in Brooklyn for her early life. Janet was also born in Brooklyn, New York. Ms. McDonald struggled to get an Ivy League education. Spellbound was named as the American Library Association’s Best Book for young adults.
This book is very lovely. I Love it, it is my favorite book. Spellbound is all about a young lady which is 16 gets pregnant. She got pregnant at a party, Now she is living with her mother. The mother isn’t really happy at her. Raven let’s mom name the baby Smokey.
Raven is looking for a job and the babies daddy. When she is at a Burger Pit she sees and talk to the father. He don’t want anything to deal with her and Smokey because she didn’t get the parents permission. The Parents of the father called said that Smokey is a ghetto baby.
Raven’s sister Dell comes back home and everyone is “kissing up to her”. Dell tells Raven if she wins the spelling bee she can get a scholarship to college. When Raven first heard this she was like NOO. Raven isn’t the best speller
Raven tries to find a job but she doesn’t get one in a office. Raven thinks she didn’t get the job because of her ghetto booty and that she live in the projects. Raven changes her mind and starts to study and spell words so she can get the spelling bee a try.
Will the babies father change his mind about taking care of Smokey? Will the Grandparents handle their responsibility? Will Raven win the spelling bee and go to college? ( )

Raven is 17 and dropped out of school when she had a baby; now she lives at home with her mom with no fun, no hope for the future, and no company except her friend Aisha--until her bossy sister Dell shows her a chance to get to college.

Janet McDonald does not shy away from anything in this book. She gives a full picture of what Raven's life is like, from wishing Raven's daddy will come back, to her mother working overtime at the post office to support the 3 of them, and deep into the painful class prejudice she faces from middle class black people and the racism that pervades her whole life. And yet, the book is laugh-out-loud funny without sacrificing the weight or severity of Raven's struggle. And it gives no false hopes of a happily-ever-after, but doesn't cheat the readers--or the characters-- of a happy-for-now. Highly recommended for all libraries that serve high schoolers. ( )

MacDonald presents a realistic problem teenagers face, an unwanted pregnancy and dropping out of high school, within the setting of one of New York’s projects. Raven acts like a typical teenager: dreaming of going to school, dealing with friends and antagonists both at school and at the projects, and wanting to have fun but trying to be mature. She deals with many common teenage social and emotional issues but now with the responsibility of caring for her own baby she did not intend to have. A good read for older teenagers who are dealing with an unwanted pregnancy; a book with a hopeful message amidst an environment that could so easily crush dreams. ( )

This book is by turns hilarious and poignant, bleak & optimistic. Raven faces the grim realities of her life: she is a 16 yr.old single mom living in the Brooklyn projects, a high school dropout, poor, and unemployable. But she's not a quitter, and she's not willing to give up hope for a better life for her and her baby. So when an opportunity comes along in the form of a spelling bee contest in which the prize is enrollment in a college prep school with a full scholarship, Raven seizes it... even though she can't spell worth a lick!
Its strengths are in achieving a good balance between funny and dramatic; and good character development, notably in Raven's less-than-ambitious best friend Aisha. Aisha could have been painted as a 2-dimensional cliche , a (stereo)typical projects denizen, perfectly content to sponge off the system. But author McDonald avoids this pitfall and instead makes her characters more than just "types," she makes them real. The book is not without its flaws, however, including some uneven pacing, some dialogue that feels contrived, and some rather predictable plot points. But overall, this is a good, satisfying read. Recommended for girls in grades 8 through 12. ( )