Face on the Milk Carton (Cooney)

The Face on the Milk Carton (Janie Johnson Series #1)
Caroline B. Cooney, 1990
Random House Children's Books
208pp.
ISBN-13: 9780440220657


Summary
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 Janie's parents? And if not, who is Janie Johnson, and what really happened?

The book was adapted into a 1995 film for television. (From the publisher.)

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Author Bio
• Birth—May 10, 1947
• Where—Old Greenwich, Connecticut, USA
• Awards—American Library Association Award, Best Book for 
  Young Adults; IRA-CBC Children's Choice
• Currently—lives in Westbrook, Connecticut

Caroline B. Cooney is an American author of young adult books. An avid reader, Cooney read many books while in elementary school. Three books that she recalls particularly liking were Sword of The Wilderness by Elizabeth Coalsworth, Indian Captive by Lois Lenski, and Black River Captive by West Lanthrop.

Cooney played the piano, directed a chorus and was a church organ player by the time she was 13. While a teenager, she favored reading books in the The Hardy Boys and Cherry Ames series, but a particular favorite was Magic by the Lake by Edward Eager. During college, she studied arts, music and English.

She has written over 60 books beginning with Safe as the Grave in 1979. Several of her novels, including Driver's Ed, Among Friends, Twenty Pageants Later, Both Sides of Time, and Out of Time have won awards, including the American Library Association award and an IRA–CBC Children's Choice Award.

At least two of her works have been made into films for television, including The Face on the Milk Carton. (From Wikipedia.)

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Book Reviews
A milk carton portrait causes a 15-year-old girl to question her true identity; citing the novel's "strong characterizations and suspenseful, impeccably paced action,'' PW added, "The roller-coaster ride Jane experiences with her emotions is both absorbing and convincing.'' Ages 12-up.
Publishers Weekly

(Grades 7-10) The message on the milk carton reads, "Have you seen this child?"' Three-year-old Jennie Spring was kidnapped 12 years earlier, but Janie Johnson, looking at the photo, suddenly knows that she is that child. Fragments of memory and evidence accumulate, and when she demands to know about her early childhood years, her parents confess what they believe to be true, that she is really their grandchild, the child of their long-missing daughter who had joined a cult. Janie wants to accept this, but she cannot forget Jennie's family and their loss. Finally, almost against her will, she seeks help and confides in her parents. Her mother insists that she call the Spring family, and the book ends as she calls them. Many young people fantasize about having been adopted or even kidnapped, but the decisions Janie must face are painful and complex, and she experiences denial, anger, and guilt while sorting her way toward a solution. Janie's boyfriend—sensible, funny, with problems of his own--is an excellent foil for her intensity. Their romance is natural and believable. Cooney again demonstrates an excellent ear for dialogue and a gift for protraying responsible middle-class teen-agers trying to come to terms with very real concerns. —Tatiana Castleton, Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library, CA
School Library Journal

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Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The Face on the Milk Carton:

1. How would you describe Janie Johnson and her life...before she sees her face on the milk carton? What does she like about her life? What would she like to change?

2. How does Janie begin to piece together the clues that will tell her the story of her life? What about her memories—her daydreams or flashbacks—what do they reveal? Do you have memories of your earliest life?

3. Janie's friends begin to notice her changed behavior. Why won't Janie tell her friends, especially Sarah Charlotte, her best friend, what she has uncovered?

4. What about Reeve—is he a good guy? Do you like him as a character?

5. How would it feel to wonder whether your parents were really your parents? If it turned out that your parents were not your biological parents, would that change your feelings toward them? What would you want to know about your birth parents? Who would be your "real" parents—in other words, what is a "parent"?

6. This book is about identity, discovering the truth about who one is. What determines identity? What would it be like to find out you aren't who you thought you were? If you have lived your life as one person and then uncover a past you didn't know about, are you still the same person? In other words, what makes you who you are?

7. Should Janie have asked the Johnsons at the beginning about the milk carton? When she finally does confront them, what is their reaction? Was it right that they had never told her about her past?

8. What does Janie realize by the end of the story? Is there a lesson she learns?

9. Do you find Janie's story compelling. Is the book suspenseful—does it keep you turning the pages to find out what happens next? What about the ending? Does it satisfy... or leave you hanging?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
  
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