Monday’s Not Coming
by Tiffany D. Jackson
Middle School, High School    Tegen/HarperCollins    440 pp.
5/18    978-0-06-242267-5    $17.99
e-book ed. 978-0-06-242269-9    $9.99

It’s the end of the summer before eighth grade, and Claudia can’t wait to see her best friend, Monday. When she doesn’t hear from Monday in the days leading up to school, Claudia is confused. Her confusion turns to worry when Monday doesn’t show up for the first day — and then to terror when she doesn’t show up in the days after that. The horrible realization that Monday is missing sends Claudia on a heart-wrenching quest to find her friend. The search for Monday leads readers through a winding tale of sisterhood, identity, and loss, in which secrets between friends are kept and revealed. The nonlinear narrative can be challenging to follow at times, but it holds readers’ attention as we, too, become invested in learning what happened to Monday — and subsequently what happens to Claudia. In addition to a gripping plot line, underlying social issues bubble beneath the surface, such as neighborhood gentrification (the story is set in and around the predominantly African American Southeast quadrant of Washington, DC), race, poverty, community, the healing of connection, and the destruction in disconnection. Ultimately, the very real question of how a young girl can go missing for so long without alarm will haunt readers long after the last page is turned.

From the July/August 2018 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.