Flashback Friday reviews are of books that I read as a teen, reread now years later :)
Author: Ann M. Martin
Publication Date: 1986
Originally Read: circa 1990
(from Goodreads)
Maggie's taking care of her four-year-old sister for a week. On Monday morning, she puts Courtenay on the bus to school. That afternoon, Courtenay doesn't come home. She never made it to school that day. She's missing. The detectives looking for Courtenay have hardly any clues. Then Maggie starts getting threatening phone calls...and she thinks she's being followed. Whoever took Courtenay is after her, too. One thing's for sure: If the police don't find Courtenay soon, Maggie will be the next one missing.
Another Scholastic Point classic. Some of my favorite memories of elementary school are of the days the Scholastic book fair set up shop in the lobby. Carts and carts of books especially picked out just for us. I loved it! Missing Since Monday was defiantly a book fair find.
Wow - 1986? Really?! Kinda hard to believe I read this one 20 years ago. So, I wasn't quite a teen ;) I had almost forgotten about it but as soon as I saw the cover it all came back to me. Also, about 4 pages in, I remembered the ending :) Have to say, the synopsis makes the book seem a lot more exciting then it really is.
After finishing it, I realized that there are a lot of things we take for granted these days - cell phones, Amber Alert, electronic phone tracking, the Internet - tons of tools that just didn't exist in the mid 80s. Also? Today's bad guys seem to be a lot scarier. It could just be me though.
Missing Since Monday is a book that doesn't really stand the test of time. A young adult reading it today might be confused as to why the characters are using VCRs and payphones instead of DVDs and cell phones :) The subject matter however, unfortunately, will probably never seem dated. Children go missing everyday and the facts and points of reference that the author brings up in this book still hold true -- we should all teach children to memorize their phone numbers, never talk to strangers and never get in a stranger's car - among other things.
I very much enjoyed my second read, and I would encourage anyone out there who might have missed this one to give it a try. Ann M. Martin has written a ton of books and I am finding that they are just as enjoyable to me now as they were all those years ago.
This was a great book! I loved Ann M Martin growing up. Did you ever read SLAM BOOK? That was dark! I just reread Lowry's A SUMMER TO DIE, which I haven't read in probably twenty years.
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