Monday's Not Coming

genre: contemporary young adult fiction, mystery

On the first day of 8th grade, Claudia waits and waits for her best friend, Monday, to show up at school, and she never does.  Not the next day either.  It doesn't take long before Claudia's gut tells her that something is very wrong but no matter what adult she tries to tell, which person in power she pleads with for help, one more missing girl in DC is just not getting anyone's attention.  But for Claudia, Monday was her world, a friend that felt more like family.  And Claudia will NOT be okay until she knows why her best friend left and if she is ever coming back.

There was so much about this book that I appreciated: Claudia's strong and loving nuclear family, the way our author makes DC a solid and almost living part of the plot, the contrast between the power of a supportive community and the powerlessness of a group of people who are treated like their lives don't seem to be worth the concrete they are living on.  Claudia's voice felt real and her determination, which she sometimes drove me crazy with the running off after people, was also commendable.  She did not let Monday down - and the mystery of Monday, which we figure out in bits and snatches, is an interesting one, if not completely unexpected.  I did have a "hand over my mouth" moment of sadness. However, the timeline of the book really made me have a hard time getting completely sucked it and, in the end, pulled my feet out from under me. Despite that, though, the author did a good job of weaving a lot of different issues into the story: poverty, child abuse, learning disabilities, coming of age - Claudia's life experience during this book definitely could have felt overwhelming but for me, it felt raw and real.  I can't say I completely loved it but I'm also glad I have Monday in my head - it makes me think of every young girl who has gone missing and the world around her just couldn't bother to stop and pay attention to why.

note for sensitive readers: a lot of cursing and some sexually explicit language, adult themes