Monday's Not Coming: List 1

by Tiffany D. Jackson
When Claudia's best friend disappears, Claudia is determined to find out what happened to her.

This list covers pages 1–102 in the 2018 HarperCollins edition.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4

Here is a link to our lists for another work by Tiffany D. Jackson: Allegedly
35 words 290 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. vanity
    low table with a mirror where one sits while dressing
    I grabbed the comb off my white vanity, noticing a fresh coloring book and pencils sitting on my chair.
  2. auburn
    (of hair) colored a moderate reddish-brown
    "Surprise!" Ma said, springing from her hiding spot, her short auburn hair still in pin curls.
  3. feign
    give a false appearance of
    “Not a babysitter,” Ma said, feigning innocence.
  4. canteen
    a restaurant outside; often for soldiers or policemen
    Ma always drove me to school on the first day, taking off a few hours from the veterans’ canteen.
  5. smirk
    a smile expressing smugness or scorn instead of pleasure
    Shayla Green stood at the top of the line, an evil smirk growing across her pretty brown face.
  6. relish
    derive or receive pleasure from
    I mean, I looked cute, but it was hard to relish in it when the one person I wanted to see me more than anyone wasn’t there.
  7. muster
    summon up, call forth, or bring together
    By Friday, with my stomach clenched tight from all the knots it tied itself into, I mustered up enough courage to ask one of the kids that lived in her complex if he had seen her.
  8. squander
    spend thoughtlessly; throw away
    His uniform barely fit, and his locker forever smelled like the rotting food he squandered.
  9. dingy
    thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot
    The dingy brown door of house number 804 had no doorbell.
  10. wince
    make a face indicating disgust or dislike
    I winced a smile, thinking of my long ride back from Monday’s house.
  11. burly
    muscular and heavily built
    Daddy is a big, burly man with a shiny bald head and arms the size of toddlers.
  12. psychedelic
    having vivid colors and bizarre patterns
    Glad he stopped buying those kiddie books and started buying ones with more intricate complex designs. Geometric and psychedelic shapes, mosaics, and mandalas...There is a calm in the chaos that most folks don’t see.
  13. matte
    not reflecting light; not glossy
    The color was called devil’s plum, a deep matte purple that I accented with tiny lavender rhinestones—just like the color of the journal Monday gave me for Christmas last year.
  14. chide
    scold or reprimand severely or angrily
    “All that salt ain’t good for you, you know,” I chided.
  15. reel
    walk as if unable to control one's movements
    A deer caught in headlights, she reeled with a gasp, backing into me.
  16. striking
    having a quality that thrusts itself into attention
    If Monday were a color, she’d be red. Crisp, striking, vivid, you couldn’t miss her—a bull’s-eye in the room, a crackling flame.
  17. heckle
    challenge aggressively
    “She ain’t my friend,” Shayla heckled. “She ain’t got no friends.”
  18. incorporate
    include or contain; have as a component
    It’s what I loved most about her. The tricks she drilled into our heads with sweet words, how she allowed us to incorporate hip-hop, jazz, and ballet moves into our pieces, how the music she selected didn’t make me feel like I was counting sheep.
  19. cower
    crouch or curl up
    Eyes scorched the back of my head red and I cowered inside my bubble for the remainder of class.
  20. stoic
    seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive
    Monday used to do this, twerk in the mirror like girls in the music videos we’d studied, face stoic and focused as if she was solving a complicated word problem.
  21. solemn
    dignified and somber in manner or character
    “What’s up?” she sighed, her voice low and solemn.
  22. badger
    persuade through constant efforts
    “Then who?” she badgered. “Come on! Tell me!”
  23. concede
    be willing to yield
    “Okay,” I conceded, taking out my coloring book, needing something to accomplish to soothe my ego.
  24. patter
    make light, rapid and repeated sounds
    Little feet pattered in our direction before August burst around the corner.
  25. corral
    collect or gather
    Their brother-sister relationship felt more like a mother-son dictatorship with her harsh disciplines. Spending afternoons corralling him exhausted her.
  26. deftly
    with dexterity; in a dexterous manner
    She inhaled deeply before prepping Carl’s hair, spraying it with water to soften, deftly detangling and combing out the knots.
  27. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    Later that evening, Monday and I giggled over chicken and mambo sauce in our makeshift tent, reliving the afternoon in detail.
  28. pristine
    completely free from dirt or contamination
    But I had my own predictions: a large cream room, pristine ivory carpet, golden bunk beds with fluffy pale pink comforters, crystal lamps, and a speaker box for an iPod.
  29. muse
    reflect deeply on a subject
    “Monday Charles?” he mused. “Oh. Oh right! Monday. Um, I’m not sure. Believe she moved, correct?”
  30. relentless
    not willing or able to stop or yield
    Monday was relentless about returning her books.
  31. incur
    make oneself subject to
    She would walk through the pouring rain before incurring a late fee.
  32. linoleum
    a floor covering made from linseed oil, cork, and resin
    The church basement is a large open space with yellow linoleum tiles, cream walls, and scriptures written in navy cursive next to paintings of black Jesus.
  33. flush
    turn red, as if in embarrassment or shame
    “I’m not,” I said, feeling my face flush and changed the subject.
  34. ministry
    religious officiants collectively
    Ma tried to make me join the teen ministry—a group full of nerdy Bible geeks—every year.
  35. flustered
    thrown into a state of agitated confusion
    “Social worker?” Ms. Valente asked, flustered.
Created on Tue Feb 12 14:29:14 EST 2019 (updated Thu Feb 14 09:58:56 EST 2019)

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