No one ever really paid close attention to the faces of the missing children on the milk cartons. But as Janie Johnson glanced at the face of the o...
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reviews
Jun 11, 2008
man, there are some HATERS on this front page...
listen. if you loved this book when you were in middle school, it sure as hell wasn't because you thought the literary style was articulate and composed. it was because you were in middle school, and therefore an angsty teen who wished you too could discover your lame parents weren't actually related to you by blood. everybody wants to find out they've been kidnapped when they're that age! it's WAY cooler than just being born into s More...
listen. if you loved this book when you were in middle school, it sure as hell wasn't because you thought the literary style was articulate and composed. it was because you were in middle school, and therefore an angsty teen who wished you too could discover your lame parents weren't actually related to you by blood. everybody wants to find out they've been kidnapped when they're that age! it's WAY cooler than just being born into s More...
5 comments
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(34 people liked it)
Mar 09, 2008
Rhein
rated it: 
This book was by far the best book I've ever read but has some adult content. Even though it does it is a great book. It's about a girl named Janie (Jennie) who sees her face from twelve years ago on the back of a milk carton saying she has been kidnapped. The whole book is about her finding out if her "parents" had actually kidnapped her and her finding her real family. I am reading the second book out of four now and so far it is amazing as well.
17 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Mar 25, 2008
Phillip
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Phillip Ye 3/20/08
Mr. Nourok Writing Arts 903
Final Draft Book Review
The Face on the Milk Carton
By Caroline B. Cooney
At first, I thought this book was just going to be about a girl, who got kidnapped, and some detectives went and tracked down clues to find her. It made me think this book was no different than any other normal mystery book but I was terribly wrong. This book was a lot more than just a mystery!
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Mr. Nourok Writing Arts 903
Final Draft Book Review
The Face on the Milk Carton
By Caroline B. Cooney
At first, I thought this book was just going to be about a girl, who got kidnapped, and some detectives went and tracked down clues to find her. It made me think this book was no different than any other normal mystery book but I was terribly wrong. This book was a lot more than just a mystery!
More...
5 comments
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(4 people liked it)
May 07, 2008
Sarah
rated it: 
Rather contrived plot,it struck me as being the literary equivalent of a paint-by-numbers picture. It was almost as though the author sketched an outline and then proceeded to fill in the blanks (I know English teachers always harp about pre-writing with an outline but who really does that?)Besides, milk cartons haven't featured photographs of missing children for years so it is unlikely the current teen audience would grasp the reference.
2 comments
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(5 people liked it)
Dec 28, 2009
Karina
rated it:
In the novel The Face On The Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney is about how a girl named Janie was stolen when she was three, but she never knew. Until one day, she sees a milk carton that has a girls face and says that she is missing. She realized that the little girl in the carton was her.She soon has thoughts about if her parents are really her parents or the kidnappers.She soon discovers many things that she wished she had never known.She found out that her parents had a daughter and she ra
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0 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Nov 05, 2008
Steven
rated it: 
This book is about how a girl named Janie was stolen when she was three, but she never knew. Until one day, she sees a milk carton that has a girls face and says that she is missing. She realized that the little girl in the carton was her.She soon has doughts about if her parents are really her parents or the kidnappers.She soon discovers many things that she wished she had never known.
She found out that her parents had a daughter and she ran away to New Jersey. One day that More...
She found out that her parents had a daughter and she ran away to New Jersey. One day that More...
Jun 10, 2008
Nailena
rated it:
The Face On The Milk Carton
Catherine B. Cooney
This book started out with Janie Johnson, at lunch. She was lactose intolerant so she could not drink milk. One day she was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and she desired to wash it down with milk, even though she was allergic. Then across the cafeteria a child points out a picture of a little girl with a polka - dot dress and little pig tails. With one glimpse of the picture Janie knew it was her as a child.
But who More...
Catherine B. Cooney
This book started out with Janie Johnson, at lunch. She was lactose intolerant so she could not drink milk. One day she was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and she desired to wash it down with milk, even though she was allergic. Then across the cafeteria a child points out a picture of a little girl with a polka - dot dress and little pig tails. With one glimpse of the picture Janie knew it was her as a child.
But who More...
Mar 10, 2009
Jessy
rated it:
this book is really good I can't wait to read the next oh and kids no younger than 9or10 should read it.
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(2 people liked it)
Feb 21, 2011
Maria
rated it: 
Excellent concept, not-so-excellent execution. The plot idea is absolutely thrilling - suddenly realising that your parents are actually not your parents, but that you've been kidnapped, not knowing how to react, who to turn to or who to trust.
Unfortunately Caroline Cooney's didn't quite have the skills to pull it off, and therefore the writing seemed occasionally choppy and the emotions unrealistic.
Still, the story itself was really interesting, so I definitely want to r More...
Unfortunately Caroline Cooney's didn't quite have the skills to pull it off, and therefore the writing seemed occasionally choppy and the emotions unrealistic.
Still, the story itself was really interesting, so I definitely want to r More...
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 15, 2012
Jessica
rated it:
The book The Face on the Milk Carton was a great book geared towards teens to adults. Once I got started reading it, I couldn't put this book down! This book was suspenseful all the way up until the end. After reading this book I was eager to read more about the main character Janie in the sequel Whatever Happened to Janie. The idea of the story was genius and the author did a great job writing The Face on the Milk Carton. I loved how the main character, Janie, developed throughout th More...
Jan 06, 2012
Shweta's Book Journal
rated it:
This book sat on my shelf for a really long time before I decided to read it. Caroline Cooney's books I have heard of, are of similar themes as this book . First book in the Janie Johnson series was a good place to start with this author.
Janie's quest to find the truth about her past makes up the whole plot. Here she is helped in some ways by her next door neighbor Reeve .The whole feel of the story is based on suspicion so I never got comfortable with it . Call me weird but books whic More...
Janie's quest to find the truth about her past makes up the whole plot. Here she is helped in some ways by her next door neighbor Reeve .The whole feel of the story is based on suspicion so I never got comfortable with it . Call me weird but books whic More...
Oct 26, 2011
Mary
rated it:
A few weeks ago, I read an article in the New York Times about an intriguing event. The daughter of activists in Chile (I think it was Chile; it might have been Argentina), was taken and adopted by a general in the Army who proceeded to kill the birth parents of this girl. She grew up not knowing any of this, and loving the parents who raised her. She found out when she was in her early twenties. You can imagine it was a very hard reality to process. One thing that struck and amazed me was that
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Sep 03, 2011
Johanna
rated it:
The Face on the Milk Carton is about a girl who finds her face on the back of a milk carton during lunch. The milk carton says that it is the picture of a missing girl named Jennie Spring, but her name is Janie Johnson. It says that she was kidnapped from a mall in New Jersey when she was three years old. Now the girl is sixteen and living in Connecticut. Janie has flashbacks, or "daymares", from when she was very little but she cannot piece them all together because they are so ra
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Aug 17, 2011
Ciara N.
rated it:
Cooney,Caroline B.(1990).The Face On the Milk Carton. New York:Bantam Books. (184pgs.)
The book that I read was The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney. The Face on the Milk Carton is a book about a girl named Janie Johnson, a fifteen year old who lives in Connecticut. And she doesn't know yet but she is trying to figure out if it was her face that she saw on the milk carton. It said that the girls name was Jennie Spring and that she was kidnapped in a shopping center as a More...
The book that I read was The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney. The Face on the Milk Carton is a book about a girl named Janie Johnson, a fifteen year old who lives in Connecticut. And she doesn't know yet but she is trying to figure out if it was her face that she saw on the milk carton. It said that the girls name was Jennie Spring and that she was kidnapped in a shopping center as a More...
Aug 09, 2011
Yvonne
rated it:
Do you ever look at the missing children pictured on your milk cartons or in the newspapers? Janie did – and she saw herself.
Janie Johnson is a normal fifteen year old, red-headed girl. She is an only child and comes from an ideal family with a respected mom and dad. She is learning to drive, has a best friend, and she even has a crush. Janie and her friends always look at the missing people on the back of their milk cartons at lunch for entertainment, but one day it was Janie's picture More...
Janie Johnson is a normal fifteen year old, red-headed girl. She is an only child and comes from an ideal family with a respected mom and dad. She is learning to drive, has a best friend, and she even has a crush. Janie and her friends always look at the missing people on the back of their milk cartons at lunch for entertainment, but one day it was Janie's picture More...
Jun 29, 2011
Sarai
rated it: 
Toward the end of the book Janie has the thought that this situation is going to go on forever. I'm with you, Janie. This book went on foreverrrrrrrrr.
I listened to the book on CD based on a referral from a 5th grader during my school visits, who told me this was an awesome book. And I'm glad he liked it.
For me, it was excruciating.
She loves her family, she hates her family, she loves her family. She's a wretched wretched girl because she allowed someone to buy he More...
I listened to the book on CD based on a referral from a 5th grader during my school visits, who told me this was an awesome book. And I'm glad he liked it.
For me, it was excruciating.
She loves her family, she hates her family, she loves her family. She's a wretched wretched girl because she allowed someone to buy he More...
May 02, 2011
Mary
rated it:
Reeve, one of the main characters, effectively summarizes this story in The Voice on the Radio: "Once upon a time," he begins, "Janie was light and airy. Like hope and joy. Janie had lots of friends and she was crazy about her mom and dad...except one day in the school cafeteria...Janie just happened to glance down at the picture of [the] missing child printed on the milk carton...and the face on the milk carton was Janie herself." The child has been missing since she was thr
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Apr 28, 2011
Annie
rated it:
irst off, how great is the idea for this book? I've seen those ads looking for kids who disappeared years ago and its true who would recognize the child except the person themselves. This plot had me hooked from the very beginning.
Janie is just a normal, lactose intolerant girl. She has a crush on her next door neighbor Reeve, a great life with parents who love her and she loves them back. But then she sees herself on the milk carton and her world is turned upside down. Did her More...
Janie is just a normal, lactose intolerant girl. She has a crush on her next door neighbor Reeve, a great life with parents who love her and she loves them back. But then she sees herself on the milk carton and her world is turned upside down. Did her More...
Apr 09, 2011
Ever wonder if you are ever living with your true mother and fathers? Imagine you are living a life where everything seemed to be real but is not. Well in this book, it is full of surprises and the first one being Janie Johnson – not really a Johnson but an unknown. This book is about a girl who finds out that she has been kidnapped and starts this journey to get to know who her real parents are.
The juicy plot starts out when Janie, the protagonist was curiously looking around and came a More...
The juicy plot starts out when Janie, the protagonist was curiously looking around and came a More...
Feb 15, 2011
Stockwell
rated it:
First of all, I'm not big on the young adult genre. I read it because it's what's available, but generally I don't like it because most of the "young adults" I know are perfectly capable of reading "adult" books, but choose young adult books because they're shorter and easier. In other words I think it's a genre based largely on laziness. Don't get me wrong, the stories can be excellent; but the whole idea of writing easier, shorter books for young people who don't feel like
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 31, 2011
Gayle
rated it:
Caroline B. Cooney makes it clear, throughout The Face on the Milk Carton, that family is what you make of it. Janie discovers (and this is a spoiler, but it's on the back of the book) that she was kidnapped. The rest of the novel is the exploration of how Janie deals with this information. Her mom and dad are caring, kind people, and Janie wonders how they could be involved in her kidnapping.
Cooney tells the story well, especially when she makes it clear that Janie's friends are notic More...
Cooney tells the story well, especially when she makes it clear that Janie's friends are notic More...
Oct 20, 2010
karen
rated it:
so i had to read this for the "banned books" portion of my teen r/a class, and i am convinced that this wasn't banned by parents or terrible librarians, but by the students themselves who were like "noooooo , don't make us read this!! it is soooo ba-zoring!!!"
because it is. truly.
this could have been a five page book. "oh shit, i was kidnapped when i was three?? let me ask my "parents" and if they are not forthcoming with the info, then i wi More...
because it is. truly.
this could have been a five page book. "oh shit, i was kidnapped when i was three?? let me ask my "parents" and if they are not forthcoming with the info, then i wi More...
66 comments
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(30 people liked it)
Jun 30, 2010
Cindy
rated it:
As a kid, i always wanted to read this book, and i FInally had the chance to read it. this book is the first book of the Janie Johnson mystery. Janie Johnson was a regular red hair girl in highschool when her life changed one afternoon at lunchtime. Janie Johnson was a typical teenage girl who can't drink milk because it would it give a stomacheache. But one day her mouth was dry because she was eating PBJ sandwich, so she grab her friends milk to drink and realize their was a missing girl p
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Mar 06, 2010
Janay
rated it:
Okay, first of all, Caroline B.Cooney shouldn't be writing for young adults. Her sentences were soooo choppy and flat. "She was their daughter." "It was wonderful to be yelled at. It was so parental." It drove me nuts! This book had the feeling of either an author's first attempt or one of those books written for six-year-olds developing early reading skills. Also, her main character was waaaay immature for a fifteen-year-old girl; it was kind of unbelievable.
Another thi More...
Another thi More...
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(1 person liked it)
Oct 27, 2009
Viviana
rated it:
This book is about a girl named Janie that was stolen when she was three. Until one day, she sees a milk cartoo and she recognizes her face in the milk .She soon has doubts about if her parents are really her parents or the kidnappers.She soon discovers many things that she wished she had never known. She found out that her fake parents had once a daughter and she ran away to New Jersey. One day that missing daughter had come back with a child in her hands and that child was her, janie. Janie
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Oct 19, 2009
Alex
rated it:
This is about a Girl Janie Johnson. Or at least she thought that was her name. As long as she could remember, her parents were her parents, but all that changed once she saw her own face on a "MISSING CHILD" poster on a milk carton. It was in her school cafeteria, her "mom" gave her Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich for lunch, usually people drink milk with it. But there was problem, Janie was lactose intolerant. She just couldn't eat the sandwich like that. So she took
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Aug 29, 2009
Rachel
rated it:
This isn't my favorite YA piece I've read, but it is a staple of the genre. I can remember my own friends talking about this book and passing it around to friends in middle school. Is the literary style or voice anything to get excited about? Not anymore, though it was for its time. The genre has grown up quite a bit since then. Still, it's obviously a classic for the original plot and fascinating idea; fascinating and even a little seductive for teenagers who all - at some point - wish the
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 18, 2009
Melynna
rated it:
The good: this book really made me want to keep reading. I was intrigued by the story, and the writing's okay. I'm interested enough that I'll almost certainly go get the other books from the library.
The bad: The main character's too whiny and her emotional upheaval seems a little too dramatic and fake. It could've been better written. The boyfriend -- and they hadn't been dating long -- expressed his desire for sex WAY too often. What a loser. The relationship she has with her parents More...
The bad: The main character's too whiny and her emotional upheaval seems a little too dramatic and fake. It could've been better written. The boyfriend -- and they hadn't been dating long -- expressed his desire for sex WAY too often. What a loser. The relationship she has with her parents More...
Jan 26, 2012
Leanne
rated it:
I wanted to like this book very much-- to get back in touch with a younger, more innocent me. It was okay.
I did have a couple of problems with it. The grammatical errors made me crazy. Half of the necessary apostrophes were missing-- and not just in instances of possession (mothers vs. mother's). CONJUNCTIONS were missing them, too. One sentence literally started with "ill" instead of "I'll." The mistakes were so simple and elementary. I don't understand how an edit More...
I did have a couple of problems with it. The grammatical errors made me crazy. Half of the necessary apostrophes were missing-- and not just in instances of possession (mothers vs. mother's). CONJUNCTIONS were missing them, too. One sentence literally started with "ill" instead of "I'll." The mistakes were so simple and elementary. I don't understand how an edit More...
