Monday's Not Coming

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Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable—more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn’t turn up for the first day of school, Claudia’s worried.

Atlanta Monsteris an in-depth look into the infamous Atlanta Child Murders, which occurred between 1979 and 1981 with over 25 victims. The podcasts speaks to the racial bias happening in Atlanta around that time and how it affected the community. Also Criminal and Sword and Scale. (Hint: Episode 67 of Sword and Scale is the Detroit case my book is based on.)

Sistah Girl Updates

She said the committee that rewrote the policy included school librarians and an attorney who represents the Canyons School District. We do not have a challenge to any book," Haney said. "If we would have had a challenge from a patron/employee with standing according to the policy, then the policy outlines how the district would proceed." Extremely touching. This book strikes a beautiful balance between a sweet story of friendship and profound story of loss and confusion. Review to come! My immediate response was, 'What about the policy?'" she said. "I'd been on the committee to create the policy, so I knew what it was. ... I knew they were not (following) the policy."

A+ for the suspense and tension build-up because 15% in, I was ready to trade my mum to find out what happened to Monday. Teen Vogue compiled a list of some of the contemporary books being challenged that touch on sexuality, gender identity, abuse, death, racism, and other sensitive subjects that affect the everyday lives of teens. 1. Lawn Boy The conversation in true crime, horror, and thrillers has lately turned in the direction of the trope of the “dead girl” and how, too often, dead girls and women function as plot points for the emotional growth of male characters. Do you feel a need to subvert that trope? And if so, how do you so in your books? the recently retired school nurse, who could otherwise help Claudia understand Monday's disappearance, is suddenly incapable of remembering anything because she has advanced Alzheimers;Claudia goes to school as usual...no Monday. No one has seen or heard from her, but no one except for Claudia even seems to be concerned. Everyone brushes Claudia off. Claudia refuses to take no answer for an answer. She needs to see Monday or hear from her to know that she's okay because Monday wouldn't do this. Not even Monday's mother or sister April help.

District spokesman Jeff Haney said the policy doesn't apply to this situation, and says the district decided to pull the books off the shelves of the school libraries while district officials review what they now feel is an issue with the policy itself — the fact that challenges to library materials cannot come from outside a school community, nor can they come from the superintendent's office or school board members.

The novel shows that traumatic experiences can cause a person to repress and misremember uncomfortable truths, even though doing so is ultimately unhelpful. For instance, after it’s revealed that Mrs. Charles murdered Monday and August, Claudia shares a secret with readers: on some level, she knew all along that Monday was dead—but she hoped that Monday had been murdered by a stranger, not by her mother, which is why she repressed the truth and kept searching for answers. It’s far more palatable for Claudia to simply forget that Mrs. Charles brutally murdered Monday and kept her body in the freezer for almost a year than it is to spend years searching for a different outcome. And Claudia has other reasons for refusing to accept the truth: accepting that Monday is gone means that Claudia would have to put Monday’s memory to rest, which Claudia can’t bear to do. Further, accepting Monday’s death would mean that Claudia would also have to accept that she’s on her own in life—a wildly uncomfortable prospect for her, given that Claudia relied on Monday for everything. Overwhelmingly, then, the novel suggests that Claudia buries the fact that Monday is dead in an attempt at self-preservation. The truth is far more difficult and uncomfortable to face than the prospect that Monday might still be out there, waiting for Claudia to rescue her.