Bibliographic Information Cooney, C. B. (1990). The face on the milk carton. New York: Detacorte Press.
Summary
This is a story about a fifteen year old girl named Janie Johnson. She had what they called “fabulous red hair with curls glinting gold.” She was an only child and had always wondered where her red hair came from, since her mom and dad didn’t look like her.
She would soon start driving lessons, and needed her birth certificate to complete her application. Every time she asked her mother about it, she was told it was in the safety deposit box at the bank. Her mother was always too busy to get it for her. Janie noticed that there were no pictures of her anywhere in the house from birth until she was about three years old. She asked her mom and dad about it, but they said they had no camera. She thought that was strange because every store in their town had a photography studio. She wondered why they didn’t take her for pictures.
One day when she was eating lunch at school, she noticed a picture on her friend’s milk carton of a missing child. She spoke out loud that the little girl looked just like her. No one seemed to notice, so she took the carton, flattened it, and put it in her notebook. Janie kept looking at it and wondering why it seemed so familiar to her. She had daydreams, or what she called “day mares” about the pretty polka-dot dress that the girl was wearing in the picture. She could see a set of twins in high chairs, and other children running around a large kitchen in her mind. Why had she never thought about these people before?
The name on the carton was Jennie Spring from a small town in New Jersey. A phone number was listed on the carton, and several times Janie called the number, but got scared and hung up. She loved her parents and her home, and didn’t want to believe that she was someone other than Janie Johnson.
One day she talked her friend Reeve into skipping school and driving her over to the small town in New Jersey. They found a phone booth and looked up the name of Spring in the phone book. Since it was a small town, there was only one listed. They got the address and went by the house just as the school bus stopped in front. Out of the bus came four children toward the house with bright red hair. Janie also saw the twins. Reeve told her it could be a coincidence that they all had red hair, but she was still upset, and they decided to go home.
After that day, Janie looked for more clues. She loved her parents and she knew they loved her, but she could not keep from remembering little bits of things she knew were real. She went up into the attic while her parents were gone one day. In the corner, she found an old trunk with a rusty lock. It broke when she tried to open it. She was very surprised when she looked in the trunk. There were pictures of a little girl named Hannah. She looked through all of the things in the trunk, and noticed there was something wrapped in tissue at the bottom of the trunk. She pulled it out. It was the polka-dot dress like the one in the picture. That evening she asked her mom and dad about who she was, and who Hannah was. At first, they just sat and looked at her, and then her mother told her that Hannah was their daughter, and that she was actually their granddaughter. Her mom told her that Hannah had ran away several years ago, and joined a religious cult called Hare Krishnia. They tried everything to keep her out, but even the police could not keep Hannah from returning to the cult.
One day Hannah showed up at the door with a little girl by her side. She told her parents that the little girl was hers and that the father was a leader of the cult. Hannah wanted her to be protected even if she could not save herself. Her parents took the little girl and moved away, so that the cult would never be able to find the little girl. The little girl was Janie. The mother told Janie that they lost contact with Hannah and raised her as their own child, protecting her as best as they knew how.
Janie had mixed feelings about this, but was relieved to know that the people that raised her were not kidnappers. Still, she kept in the back of her mind the memories of the picture and the polka-dot dress.
Her friend Reeve told his sister who was a pre-law student about this odd situation of Janie and her parents. His sister told Janie to check out the kidnapping in the library archives of old newspapers. She soon discovered that Hannah was probably the one who kidnapped her. She actually remembered a nice girl who bought her an ice cream at a malt shop when she was three. Because she was so nice, Janie left with her. Janie told her parents about this, and they decided they would contact the family in New Jersey. Janie knew she always be their daughter, but she wanted to reach out to the family she was kidnapped from.
Impressions
I enjoyed this book. It kept me interested until the end. The story line was easy to follow and the characters seemed real. I felt sad about some of the parts, and happy about others. Overall, I would recommend this book for an interesting read.
Review
One brief glance at a face on a milk carton turns 15-year-old Janie's life upside-down. For there, looking out from the picture of a missing child, is the face of Janie as she was 12 years ago. Was she kidnapped by her own parents? But who are her real parents and who is she? Follow Janie as she struggles to learn the truth of her identity and regain control of her life without destroying the lives of those she loves.
S., K. (n.d.). [Review of The Face on the Milk Carton]. Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. Retrieved from http://www.plcmc.lib.nc.us/readers_club/reviews/tresults.asp?id=1054
Library Use
This mystery book along with others can be used in the library for discussing qualities of mystery books, and what makes them interesting to readers. Students can then create their own mystery stories with partners or in groups and have classmates read their creations.
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