Monday's Not Coming

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-3, 4-5, and 6-8

Reading Check

1. Where has Claudia spent her summer?

2. What does Claudia’s Ma say she is leaving when she asks her daughter to check in with people on the way to and from school?

3. Where do Claudia and Monday go after school most days?

4. What land was Ed Borough, where Monday lived, built on?

5. What symbolic color does Claudia see in Monday?

6. Which teacher from seventh grade does Claudia still visit?

7. Who is April?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Claudia worried about Monday?

2. How is school for Claudia without Monday?

Paired Resource

“Teens”

• Scholastic’s website focuses on articles about teenagers.
• Theme connection includes Coming of Age.
• How would Claudia describe 8th grade?

“Coming of Age: Adolescent Health”

• The World Health Organization presents information about adolescence, focusing on health.
• This connects to the theme Coming of Age.
• What impacts Claudia and Monday’s health?

Chapters 9-11, 12-16, and 17-20

Reading Check

1. Who is August?

2. What skill does Monday earn money for?

3. Which school do Monday and Claudia hope to attend?

4. Whom does Claudia see at the church Halloween party?

5. Which signature color does Claudia see in Mrs. Charles?

6. What does Ma ask Daddy to do to try to find Monday?

7. In a conference, what does Claudia’s English teacher reveal to her parents?

8. Which color does Claudia see in her mother?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How do gray and silver connect to dance for Claudia?

2. What are some indications Monday is being abused?

Paired Resource

 “Understanding Dyslexia (for Teens)”

• Nemours Teens Health explains dyslexia and what it is like for a person who is dyslexic.
• This resource connects to the themes Coming of Age and Perception Versus Reality.
• How does dyslexia affect Claudia as she traverses middle school? How do her feelings shift from when she hides her dyslexia to after she accepts it?

Chapters 21-23, 24-26, and 27-30

Reading Check

1. Why is Michael at Claudia’s tutor’s home?

2. What do the crystal angel ornaments on Claudia’s family Christmas tree represent?

3. Who gave Claudia the journal?

4. Where do Claudia and her parents work on Martin Luther King Jr. Day?

5. When people make fun of Monday’s newly dyed hair, who takes her to the salon?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why do Monday and Claudia have their first fight?

2. When Claudia sees Tuesday and April at the restaurant, how do they seem?

Paired Resource

“Young Black People Experience Physical, Emotional Toll of Racism, Studies Show”

• Teen Vogue examines ways racism impacts young people.
• The op-ed connects to the themes Racism and Gentrification and Coming of Age.
• How have Monday and Claudia experienced racism and how has it affected them?

“Still I Rise”

• Maya Angelou’s poem presents determination and power in the face of racism.
• Theme connections include Racism and Gentrification and Perception Versus Reality.
• Despite everything Claudia has experienced, how does she demonstrate her power?

Chapters 31-34, 35-38, and 39-43

Reading Check

1. Whom does Claudia go to the basketball game with?

2. What does Daddy learn from Monday’s father?

3. Which color does Claudia see in April?

4. Who invited Claudia to a sleepover?

5. At the sleepover, what talent does Claudia reveal?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When Mrs. Charles comes home while Claudia is there, how does Claudia escape?

2. What is different about the responses when Claudia and Monday are missing?

Paired Resource

“What is Dissociation and What To Do About It? Signs, Symptoms, and Causes of Dissociation”

• This resource from the University of Washington offers a 2-page overview of dissociation, including signs, and ways to help a person facing this condition.
• Theme connections include Perception Versus Reality.
• What signs of dissociation does Claudia exhibit?

Chapters 44-46, 47-50, and 51-56

Reading Check

1. Which signature color represents Daddy?

2. Where is Monday’s body found?

3. Who else was found murdered with Monday?

4. What symbolic color does Claudia see in herself?

5. How does Mrs. Charles act when confessing to the murders?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Claudia see Monday repeatedly checking out Flowers in the Attic as a cry for help?

2. How has Monday’s death affected Claudia?

3. How does Monday’s funeral contrast with the search for her?

Recommended Next Reads 

Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

• Years ago, Mary Beth Addison was blamed and prosecuted for the death of a white baby. At 15, she lives in a dangerous group home and learns more about the truth of that night. She grapples with what to do with that truth and her future.
• Shared themes include Perception Versus Reality, Racism and Gentrification, and Coming of Age.      
• Shared topics include family, violence, love, growing up, community, the legal system, uncovering the truth, and mental health.      
• Allegedly on SuperSummary

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

• Starr Carter witnesses a white police officer murder her black friend. In the aftermath, as she navigates grief, ongoing racism, and activism, she decides her future.
• Shared themes include Perception Versus Reality, Racism and Gentrification, and Coming of Age.
• Shared topics include violence, family, community, decisions, school, the legal system, activism, and uncovering the truth.
• The Hate U Give on SuperSummary