Previous
Jacob Miller
Ms. Valente is Claudia’s favorite teacher at school. She teaches seventh-grade English, and taught fourth grade prior to that. Ms. Valente fosters a spirit of openness and honesty with her students, and she makes a point to not hide that she’s married to a woman. Claudia loves her for her honesty—and for the fact that Ms. Valente worked with her after school when she was in seventh grade. In the “Before” timeline, Ms. Valente is the only teacher who takes Claudia’s concern about Monday’s disappearance seriously. She asks the school office to check in several times and even goes with a police officer to Monday’s house once. She believes that something is terribly wrong, and she makes several calls to the police and to social services. Not long after the authorities discover Monday’s body, Ms. Valente and her wife move back to New York. Throughout the novel, Ms. Valente offers important insight into how kids suffering neglect or struggling with learning disabilities fall through the cracks. Most of her reports to the authorities go uninvestigated, and she confides in Claudia that when she first suspected Claudia had dyslexia, the school didn’t want her to investigate further. She suggests that schools are too focused on their rankings, to the detriment of students like Monday and Claudia.
Ms. Valente Quotes in Monday’s Not Coming
The Monday’s Not Coming quotes below are all either spoken by Ms. Valente or refer to Ms. Valente. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 6. The Before
Quotes
“I know I’ve only been in this school for a couple of years, but back in New York, when a student doesn’t show up for class nor register for school, the school follows up. Is that not the case here?”
“A lot of students didn’t return this year. Most had to move due to rent going up and stuff. But I’ll pass a note along.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22. The Before
Quotes
“I tried to bring it up before, but folks just told me to keep you moving. Everything about this school is driven by our ranking. No one has time to just take a moment and really be with our students. You’re old enough to know this now, but sometimes, all you are to this school is a score that adds up with the overall score. And the higher the score, the better the reputation. You know what I mean?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Monday’s Not Coming LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ms. Valente Quotes in Monday’s Not Coming
The Monday’s Not Coming quotes below are all either spoken by Ms. Valente or refer to Ms. Valente. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 6. The Before
Quotes
“I know I’ve only been in this school for a couple of years, but back in New York, when a student doesn’t show up for class nor register for school, the school follows up. Is that not the case here?”
“A lot of students didn’t return this year. Most had to move due to rent going up and stuff. But I’ll pass a note along.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22. The Before
Quotes
“I tried to bring it up before, but folks just told me to keep you moving. Everything about this school is driven by our ranking. No one has time to just take a moment and really be with our students. You’re old enough to know this now, but sometimes, all you are to this school is a score that adds up with the overall score. And the higher the score, the better the reputation. You know what I mean?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
