Chill Wind: A Novel

• Age Range: 12 - 18 years

• Grade Level: 7 - 12

• 2003 Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe New Talent Award.

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SUMMARY

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, assistance checks, and 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.

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.

REVIEWS

“McDonald writes with such honesty, wit, and insight that you want to quote from every page and read much of this story aloud to share the laughter and anguish, failure and hope, fury and tenderness, of black project girl Aisha Ingram . . . The truth of the characters and their talk and the energy of the neighborhood . . . will grab readers from everywhere.” —Booklist

“The language is real and believable and evokes life in an urban setting. Determination, familial love, and courage are the themes examined.” —School Library Journal

“McDonald deserves kudos for her gritty, unsentimental portrait of day-to-day life in the projects.” —Kirkus Reviews