Mister Monday

Mister Monday

Author	Garth Nix
Cover artist	Chris Carlson, Don Bobby Farrall & Kamil Chile Vojnar
Country	Australia
Language	English
Series	The Keys to the Kingdom
Genre	Fantasy, Young adult novel
Publisher	Scholastic Press
Publication date	1 July 2003
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	445 pp
ISBN
OCLC	52498186
LC Class	PZ7.N647 Mi 2003
Followed by	Grim Tuesday

Mister Monday is the first novel in the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix. The other books in the series are: Grim Tuesday, Drowned Wednesday, Sir Thursday, Lady Friday, Superior Saturday and Lord Sunday. Mister Monday is afflicted with the deadly sin of Sloth.

On Earth, a boy named Arthur Penhaligon (The main character) is at a new school. He collapses during an outdoor cross country run during gym because of his severe asthma. Two of his schoolmates, Ed and Leaf, stop to help him use his inhaler before running to get help.

While waiting for help, Arthur notices two strange-looking men materialising out of thin air. They discuss a key and whether or not to give it to Arthur. One of the men, Monday, doesn't want to give it up because he needs the key in order to continue his reign, but the other man, Sneezer, convinces him to as the Will states Monday must give the key to a suitable heir but after Arthur dies, Monday will once again regain control of the Key. Persuaded, Monday agrees to relinquish control of the key, which is shaped like the minute hand of an old clock, although he quickly becomes suspicious of Sneezer, who apparently never showed much intelligence before. Sneezer and Mister Monday then fight and disappear in a flash of light. In their place is a slim book which Arthur puts in his pocket. In his hand, he holds the key which Arthur finds helps him breathe. As his teacher and school nurse approach, Arthur hides the key and passes out.

Arthur wakes up in a hospital bed, tired. Ed and Leaf, the brother and sister who helped him, come and visit. Leaf comments that she had seen an old man pushing a bath-chair with a young man in it; obviously Sneezer and Mister Monday. Ed, however, had not seen Monday and Sneezer, but claims to have seen a bunch of men with dog-like faces digging up the field. Arthur asks them if anyone had seen the key he buried in the field and they say no, but promise to visit him soon. Shortly afterward, they have to leave so Arthur can take a shot. In pain, Arthur pushes his hand under the pillow, only to have his fingers touch the key, which has appeared there magically.

A week later, Arthur returns home but Ed and Leaf have not kept their promise to visit him. When he gets there, he uses the key to open the book, which is called The Compleat Atlas of the House and Immediate Environs, and learns that the House (a giant, polyglot-fashioned building that he passed when going home) has an entrance called Monday's Postern. That night, he is visited by one of the dog-like "Fetchers" mentioned by Ed earlier. He is saved by his ceramic Komodo dragon in which he had placed the Key. During the next day at school, he finds himself being pursued by the Fetchers again. Before being excused from gym class, a friend of Leaf's hands him a printed out email which explains her and her brother's absence. Apparently, they have caught some sort of virus and have been placed in quarantine. Leaf notes that she can smell the same stench from the Fetchers on those in her family but no one else can smell it. Arthur seeks sanctuary in the school library to figure out the Atlas and hide from the Fetchers. During this brief time, he reads up on the Fetchers and finds out that they are vulnerable to salt. His research is interrupted when Monday's Noon, a servant of Mister Monday who proves to be more powerful than the Fetchers, shows up. He attempts to attack Arthur and inadvertently starts a fire in the library.