A review by joylehua_95
Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

 
A bit of a longer review: 
Another great read by Tiffany d. Jackson for me. I cried reading it. I think that Tiffany does a great job of intertwining multiple topics/issues into the bigger story. She does a good job of showing how things like race, gender or socioeconomic status effect/ play a role in the characters experiences. and choices. The characters in this book are developed well. I was Claudia in middle school. My entire personality was my best friend and I didn’t know what to do without them. It felt weird to be apart. I enjoyed seeing Claudia stepping out of her comfort zone and making new experiences with new friends, even though the circumstances were less than ideal. 
I used to work alongside DCFS with at risk families so this book has a special place in my heart. The formatting of the chapters was confusing to follow. For example, the chapters are like “the before”, “the after”, “one year before the before”. However, once you get to the “twist” it will make sense why the chapters are set up that way, so hang in there, it all comes together! 

There are spoilers in this part of the review so proceed with caution. The fact that no one noticed Monday was missing for MONTHS. No one followed up for MONTHS. They assumed it was something easily explained. Caludia was the only one that cared about Monday and NO ONE took her seriously. The environment in which all of Monday's siblings lived was so abusive and it's so sad that her brother was killed, and then Monday and so callously. The mom was like, oops. And then, April putting Monday's body in the freezer?? But it seems like she was in survival mode.  Too many times we see the system letting down kids in abused families. We see friends, family members, teachers or other concerned community members advocating for these kids. Calling CPS/DCFS. Too many times, these calls aren’t taken seriously. Too many times, young lives are taken way too soon. People of the global majority are at a higher disadvantage because the system already sees them as expendable and not worth the time. Missing children’s cases aren’t always taken seriously, especially for children of the global majority, often labeled as a runaway.
 
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