A Dash of Interesting
The Face on the Milk Carton
by Caroline B. Cooney
The Janie Johnson Series, Book 1
# Pgs: 208
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Overview:
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?
A photograph of a missing girl on a milk carton leads Janie on a search for her real identity.
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Review:
This was an overall gripping book to read. I mean, it's not exactly the type of book that I'm used to reading, but compelling none the less. The main character, Janie Johnson, is a somewhat pathetic character that you can't help but feel sympathy for. I don't pathetic in a way that she's whining all the time, it's more of that she's so stressed out with this suddenness of finding out that it was herself on the carton of milk that her vulnerablility shows through in different ways. You begin reading about this teenage girl that you can relate with, who begins to unveil the truth about her parents and from where she came, and nothing is as she expected. How do you come to terms that the family that you love to death, that raised you, that loves you just as much, potentially kidnapped you? What do you do?
The furthest thing from Janie's mind is to actually figure it out, although this is the kind of situation where you can't resist that pull to know the truth. What exactly is the truth, and what is the lie, and why? Despite the atypical situation that this is, this book is easy to relate to.
At first, when I began to read this book, it took a second to breath it in. Cooney writes in a type of style that I'm not used to at all, but is refreshing. It's simple, while the plot itself twists in complexity, the words are there. The book is predictable; I knew not ever half-way through the book exactly how it was going to turn out, and how everything all connected. There was a certain chapter in the book when Janie finally couldn't take it anymore and had to talk to her parents; she loves them, surely this couldn't be all that it seemed? The story they told made me facepalm. When reading it, I'm not sure I quite believed it (I'm a suspicious person) and what they told Janie just seemed so far-fetched. How could it be real?
So while I accepted the answer they gave, and figured out how it could all make sense, I remained apprehensive.
Authors write books with a question in mind, a possibility, a "how this all turns out" kind of reasoning. That's probably not the best way to say it, and I'm sorry if it's confusing, but it's the main focus of the book. The main goal. It's the thing that keeps us, as readers, reading.
With this book it seemed like the main focus of this book was always changing. There was no goal. What exactly was Janie working towards? There wasn't enough complexity; everything was just laid bare and it wasn't good. I knew exactly where this book was going to go, and I was hoping to have been mislead, I was looking for the dark corners of the book for the secrets, the truth, about Janie's kidnapping. There was so many possibilities, but Cooney wrote it so that it was simple, however outlandish. I just wish that she'd have taken this in a different direction.
I don't know. This book was ok, I liked it enough that I wanted to read the next book straight away. So I did. The one thing that I did majorly appreciate about this book was the cliffhanger at the end. Cooney, by that point, had drawn me in to the book enough that, despite its predictability, I was still able to massly appreciate it. This isn't one of the best books that I've ever read, but it was still pretty good. It was ok. So-so. I think it would be a better book for the younger generation to read. Oh well.
I give this a two and a half out of five. Recommended for teens younger than eighteen but twelve and up; or people who just like mysteries. It's simple. Just a mystery.
Thanks for reading~ ^^
At first, when I began to read this book, it took a second to breath it in. Cooney writes in a type of style that I'm not used to at all, but is refreshing. It's simple, while the plot itself twists in complexity, the words are there. The book is predictable; I knew not ever half-way through the book exactly how it was going to turn out, and how everything all connected. There was a certain chapter in the book when Janie finally couldn't take it anymore and had to talk to her parents; she loves them, surely this couldn't be all that it seemed? The story they told made me facepalm. When reading it, I'm not sure I quite believed it (I'm a suspicious person) and what they told Janie just seemed so far-fetched. How could it be real?
So while I accepted the answer they gave, and figured out how it could all make sense, I remained apprehensive.
Authors write books with a question in mind, a possibility, a "how this all turns out" kind of reasoning. That's probably not the best way to say it, and I'm sorry if it's confusing, but it's the main focus of the book. The main goal. It's the thing that keeps us, as readers, reading.
With this book it seemed like the main focus of this book was always changing. There was no goal. What exactly was Janie working towards? There wasn't enough complexity; everything was just laid bare and it wasn't good. I knew exactly where this book was going to go, and I was hoping to have been mislead, I was looking for the dark corners of the book for the secrets, the truth, about Janie's kidnapping. There was so many possibilities, but Cooney wrote it so that it was simple, however outlandish. I just wish that she'd have taken this in a different direction.
I don't know. This book was ok, I liked it enough that I wanted to read the next book straight away. So I did. The one thing that I did majorly appreciate about this book was the cliffhanger at the end. Cooney, by that point, had drawn me in to the book enough that, despite its predictability, I was still able to massly appreciate it. This isn't one of the best books that I've ever read, but it was still pretty good. It was ok. So-so. I think it would be a better book for the younger generation to read. Oh well.
I give this a two and a half out of five. Recommended for teens younger than eighteen but twelve and up; or people who just like mysteries. It's simple. Just a mystery.
Thanks for reading~ ^^
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