Another Kind of Monday [Paperback]

William E. Coles (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 8, 1999

When Mark borrows a copy of Great Expectations from the school library, he finds, concealed between two pages, an envelope containing three crisp one-hundred dollar bills.There is also a note mysterious but intriguing, that invites the finder to embark on a quests. If Mark can puzzle out the meaning of a series of enigmatic verse clues meant to lead him on a treasure hunt around his hometown of Pittsburgh, then, like Charles Dicken's Pip, he is promised a fortune. But he must follow certain rules - like working in absolute secrecy -- or the deal is off. Rewarded by gifts of money, Mark uses the clues to move from one strange Pittsburgh location to the next - an abandoned steel mill, an old astronomical observatory -- when suddenly the rules of the quest change...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With the chance opening of a dusty copy of Great Expectations, a young man is plunged into a mysterious scavenger hunt that leads him all over his native city of Pittsburgh and straight into an unexpected romance. The quest begins when Mark finds $300 and a set of directions in a library book. After accepting the stated conditions and tracking down the first few clues, he is instructed by his unknown benefactor to select a companion for the quest. "This person is to be a different sex from your own... but may not be a friend of yours at present." Mark settles on Zeena Curry, a striking, smart girl. Zeena cautiously accepts Mark's offer, even though her black mother's painful divorce from her white father has made her distrustful of people outside her race. Together, they experience several narrow escapes--including one that lands Mark in the emergency room nursing a concussion--before coming to the conclusion that they just might be in love. Impatiently, they strive toward their shared goal, hoping for a big payoff, not realizing until the end that the journey itself may have been their greatest reward.

Rife with interesting tidbits of historical Pittsburgh lore, the cryptically worded quest will keep teens eagerly moving through the 200-plus pages of this novel. It is the author's exploration of Mark and Zeena's relationship, however, that provides the heart of Another Kind of Monday. By framing this unlikely couple within a enigmatic journey, William E. Coles Jr. has created a young adult novel that is neither mystery nor romance but the best parts of both. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

From Publishers Weekly

When Mark, a Pittsburgh high school senior, is assigned Great Expectations for holiday reading, he checks out a library copy-which happens to hold three crisp $100 bills and an anonymous note inviting the finder on a secret treasure hunt that promises even greater riches. This intriguing premise leads to some suspenseful, first-rate clue-cracking, as Mark solves the riddles in a series of cryptic notes. Each involves delving into colorful, curious pieces of Pittsburgh history. But Cole (coauthor of Funnybone) periodically downshifts as Mark's journey becomes one of self-discovery, and the momentum of the quest suffers, along with the story itself. His relationship with Zeena, a teenager of mixed race whom he chooses as his fellow "quester," evolves from friendship to romance; they share similar family-related problems, which are more or less resolved through insights gained from each other's perspective. These developments seem secondary, however, as do issues of race and feminism that surface in fairly broad, familiar terms. The answer to the final riddle, an attempt to tie together both strands-the quest of "great expectations" and the inner journey-proves a letdown in an otherwise imaginatively conceived plot. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperTempest; English / Spanish Edition edition (June 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380731339
• ISBN-13: 978-0380731336
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,927,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed the quest, September 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Another Kind of Monday (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book - couldn't put it down. It's billed for young adults, but I'm in my 40's, and found it captivating. I liked "exploring" Pittsburg, and reading of its legends (I never knew if they were true or invented for the story, so I'll have to look up some of the stories and find out). I liked the theme that life is a story and therefore, we shoud try to "see other ways in which the story may be told". I enjoyed the romance of it - realistic but not explicit. More adult books should be written with romance like this.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Different Kind of Mystery titled Another Kind of Monday, March 25, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Another Kind of Monday (Paperback)

First of all, I was required to read this book for English Festival and did not choose to read it. Overall,it was a pretty good book, but I definitely would not recommend it to any one under 13. The only thing I didn't like was the ending. I completely did not understand it and it didn't fit in with the rest of the book at all. It was very educational, though. I live in Pittsburgh and, while discuccing this book in class, discovered that our class took a field trip to an observatory and looked through a Brashear lense! Before this, the only one of the historical people in this book I had heard of was Henry Clay Frick, and I didn't even really know who he was! This book is good for any one who likes mysteries or historical books.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good story, bad ending!, May 28, 2003

By 

"adrian_whizkid" (North Bay, Ontario) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Another Kind of Monday (Paperback)

This was a very intriguing book. I was captivated until the last few pages, in which the author managed to throw his entire story down the drain. Read the book, but put it down before last chapter. I was thoroughly disappointed.