Book Review-The Face on the Milk Carton

[Emily Spencer]

Title: The Face on the Milk Carton
Author: Caroline B. Cooney
Genre: Dramatic Fiction
Series: Yes 5-book series (Janie Johnson series)

A brief summary:

Janie Johnson had a great home life; her relationship with her parents was everything a girl could ask for and more, she had a nice house and wonderful memories of family vacations and celebrations. All of that changed in an instant…

When her teacher assigns the students to write about what they find on the back of milk cartons, Janie is already planning her ‘missing child’ story. Her plan comes to a screeching halt and her world is thrown tipsy-turkey as she turns over her milk carton only to see her own face (a much younger version) staring back at her.

Janie is forced to confront hard truths and walk the minefield of shattered relationships. Whatever the outcome, her life will never be the same.

Here is what Goodreads has to say:

The face on the milk carton looks like an ordinary little girl: hair in tight pigtails, a dress with a narrow white collar, a three-year-old who was kidnapped more than twelve years ago from a shopping mall in New Jersey.

As fifteen-year-old Janie Johnson stares at the milk carton, she feels overcome with shock. She knows that little girl is she. But how could it be true?

Janie can't believe that her loving parents kidnapped her, until she begins to piece together clues that don't make sense. Why are there no pictures of Janie before she was four? Her parents have always said they didn't have a camera. Now that explanation sounds feeble. Something is terribly wrong, and Janie is afraid to find out what happened more than twelve years ago.

In this gripping page-turner, the reader will unravel—as Janie does—the twisted events that changed the lives of two families forever.

My take on this book:

This book was an excellent read, but very disquieting. In fact, I still haven’t worked up the nerve to read the rest of the series, which is a shame since the book is really well written. The characters are very believable and the author has written the story so artfully that you almost forget it is a work of fiction. I would definitely recommend this one.

[Amy Darvill]

If you ever want to make this a book club in the family, I wouldn't mind reading this with you. I actually read the first and I think the second novel in the series a few years ago, but it also left me quiet unsettled. But when I went on to look, it's actually 5 book series, which feels fairly daunting to read on a heavy topic.