BOOK REVIEW: The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B Cooney

Publication Date: May 22, 2012
Format: Paperback
Genre:  YA Mystery

Publisher: Ember 
Pages: 
208
Buy: Kindle | Paperback

Synopsis

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 ordinary little girl with her hair in tight pigtails, wearing a dress with a narrow white collar—a three-year-old who had been kidnapped twelve years before from a shopping mall in New Jersey—she felt overcome with shock. She recognized that little girl—it was she. How could it possibly be true?

Janie can't believe that her loving parents kidnapped her, but as she begins to piece things together, nothing makes sense. Something is terribly wrong. Are Mr. and Mrs. Johnson really her parents? And if not, who is Janie Johnson, and what really happened?

Review: 

I'm not sure where all the hate is coming from in regard to this book.  I really enjoyed it.  Its a YA book and I wasn't looking for literary glory.  I thought the premise was unique and really interesting.  I totally understand Janie's reluctance to talk to her family about her finding.  She loves them, they raised her she can't see them as kidnappers but she can't put it out of her head. So she investigates some more and the secret is tearing her apart. 

Janie is a teenager, filled with all the teenage angst and dumb ideas that most teenagers have. She is torn apart about this secret and then on top of it her best friend and next door neighbor starts to look like a potential love interest. 

I thought this was a well executed book except for it ending on a cliff hanger.  I will definitely be getting the other books in the series to see where it goes. 





Comments