Chill Wind

(Paperback)

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Description

The story of Aisha, teenage mother of two from the New York Projects, who is going nowhere. But when her welfare benefits are stopped, she has to find a job. Chill Wind charts Aisha's struggle as she transforms herself from workshy teenager to TV star. Aisha is nineteen with two children and a no-good boyfriend. Her idea of the good life is hanging with friends, dancing and chilling to music. But things get a bit too 'chilly' when she receives sixty days' notice of termination of her welfare benefits. No way is Aisha going to do menial work for WorkFare. Then she sees a TV advert for BigModels. Aisha is pretty enough, and big enough, is this the way out for her

Reviews

"Returning to territory first explored in Spellbound, McDonald ... uses a third-person narration to create Aisha's authentic voice." Publishers Weekly"Well-drawn secondary characters move the story along. The language is real and believable and invokes life in an urban setting." School Library Journal"It's the truth of the characters and their talk and the energy of the neighborhood that will grab readers from everywhere. There's no romanticism, just a sense of a strong, young black woman ... who screws up big time but finds self-respect with friends and family where she lives." Booklist star review"The novel is highly readable and rife with intimate, naturalistic glimpses of project life." Horn Book

Author Bio

Janet McDonald was born in New York City and grew up in a public housing project in Brooklyn, a place that has inspired many of the characters in her books. She holds degrees from Vassar, NYU and Columbia University. She is one of the few black members of Mensa and practises law in Paris.