Mrs. Ortiz                                                          period:4                                         

                                 The Face on the Milk Carton, book review

                                                              By: Nia Haywood

“Have you ever wondered if your parents are not actually your parents? Makes you think right? In this book, Caroline B. Cooney gives readers a taste of what it feels like to second guess who you are living with”.  No one ever really paid attention to the faces of missing children on milk cartons. But as Janie Johnson glanced at the face of an ordinary little girl with her hair in tight pigtails, who was kidnapped twelve years ago she felt overcome with shock. She recognized that the little girl was her. The face on the milk carton takes place in a small town in Connecticut. When Janie was at school one day she happened to catch a glance of a missing child’s picture, she sees her face and over her picture it said: “Kidnapped”.

It doesn't make sense. Janie knows that she wasn't kidnapped when she was three, as the milk carton claims. She knows — or does she? — That her loving, decent parents are not kidnappers. But she can't shake off the mystery because she remembers the dress in the photograph. Janie tries to ignore these persistent thoughts, until she starts having strange memories. She remembers being left alone in a shopping mall, sitting on a stool, when a woman came up to her and offered her ice cream. She remembers spilling milk in a kitchen that was definitely not her own, surrounded by unfamiliar faces.

Caroline B.Cooney takes readers for a ride when reading her thrilling books. The face on the milk carton is intense. It’s a gripper. It was hard for me to put this book down until I got through the whole trauma with Janie Johnson.

By the conclusion of the story, Janie has gone through a huge stage of growing up. The mystery has been solved. She has transformed from childlike behavior to adult maturity. At the end of this novel, unlike a soap opera, the hard part is just beginning.