Monday's Not Coming

Monday’s Not Coming (2018) is a young adult novel by Tiffany D. Jackson. She employs a nonlinear narrative to explore issues of race, mental illness, and media bias. Claudia Coleman narrates the story of how her best friend, Monday Charles, disappeared for a year, and no one but Claudia seemed to notice or care.

Published by Harper Collins, Monday’s Not Coming earned Jackson the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe award for new talent. It was also nominated for a 2020 Abe Lincoln Book Award.

On the last day before the girls were meant to start eighth grade together—a year that Claudia expected to be the best of her young life—Claudia returns to her home in the Washington, D.C., housing projects and immediately asks about her friend Monday. The girls had promised to stay in touch via letter, but Monday has not answered Claudia letters. Unconcerned, Claudia’s mother responds that perhaps Monday was too busy to write.

At school the next day, Monday does not show up. Claudia calls Monday’s phone, but a recording informs her that it has been disconnected. Monday’s siblings are also not at school. Claudia is very concerned, but no one else seems bothered by Monday’s absence. Claudia’s mother tells her that Monday is probably with her father. Claudia contacts Monday’s sister, April, but April says she doesn’t know where Monday is; she suggests Monday is staying with an aunt. Claudia goes to the school offices and discovers that Monday is not registered for school. She cannot believe Monday would leave without telling her. She decides to launch an investigation into Monday’s disappearance.

When Claudia visits Monday’s house, Mrs. Charles is hostile, frightening Claudia as she insists that Monday isn’t there. Claudia goes to the police to report Monday as missing, but the police seem disinterested in helping Claudia or listening to what she has to say. As Claudia heads off to school every day, her concerned mother reminds her to check in at home, especially as her investigations delay her return. These absences seem to worry her mother more than they should.

As Claudia continues to investigate, she realizes how much she doesn’t know about Monday’s life, and she struggles to exist in a world without her best friend. Without Monday at school, Claudia is bullied by other kids who call her a slut and ho and mock her dyslexia. She starts to attend The Learning Center to receive support for her learning disability, and she makes new friends, including a young man from her church named Michael. Her parents welcome these new influences, urging her to move on from Monday, but Claudia continues to grieve.

Claudia goes to the library and discovers that Monday has been checking out books, all of which feature sexually and physically abused characters. She realizes that Monday is being abused and tries to get Ma (Mrs. Coleman) to help her. Then, Claudia learns the truth: Extreme posttraumatic stress disorder and dissociative amnesia is causing her to relive the same time period over and over again. Claudia is no longer 14 years old; she is 16 years old, and Monday has been dead for two years.

Reoriented to the present, Claudia remembers the details of Monday’s death. She recalls going to Monday’s house and noticing the freezer had a terrible smell. Authorities soon discovered the frozen bodies of Monday and her little brother, whom Monday’s mother killed in a fit of madness. April helped her hide the bodies and obscure the murders, so the children wouldn’t be separated by social services.

The story garners nationwide attention, sparking a debate over gentrification and whether a community is responsible for the welfare of its members. Monday’s mother tells reporters that she has no regrets over what she’d done because Monday and her brother deserved to die.