A young girl's kinda-boring life gets all to exciting when she sees her own face staring back at her from a milk carton.

I must say, this book surprised me. I was expecting something quick and shallow, but Cooney packed an awful lot into this teensy little package. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Cooney's sparse, simplistic prose works perfectly with this story. Janie is scared and confused. She can't focus on anything except the situation at hand. She's disconnected from everyone around her, and Cooney's style forces the reader into the same state of mind. We feel Janie's fear, her relief and her uncertainty as she uncovers each new piece of the puzzle. The writing is occasionally stilted, and there are a few turns of phrase that just scream kiddie lit, but for the most part it's very well done.

I also got a big kick out of all the twists and turns. Lately, I've had a few issues with books and predictability. I know an awful lot of stories, and I can usually guess exactly how things will turn out. It's frustrating. I suppose I ought to have guessed some of the twists herein, but I didn't. They threw me for a loop. Now that I've finished the book, I can see that Cooney does follow a few well-known stories, but she still manages to keep this story vibrant. She tricked me, and she did it by making me connect with Janie. If I'd been a distanced, impartial reader, I'd have seen straight through the smoke and mirrors--but I wasn't, so I didn't. it's very well done.

I definitely recommend this. It's an itsy bitsy little thing, but it packs quite a nice punch.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )

This is a story of a fifteen year-old girl named Janie whose life changes the moment she see's a familiar face on a milk carton. One day when Janie was eating lunch with her friends she notcied a milk carton that had a missing child report on it. The closer she looked, the more she realized that the little girl on the carton was her. Or at least she thought. Janie soon began to investigate this issue by rummaging through her "so-called" families attic where she finds a dress that is identical to the one in the missing persons photo. She also comes across a box which says "HANNAH" on it. She had never heard her parents discuss this names before which began to worry her even more. As the story continues, she finally approaches her mother and father about the issue and they respond by a convincing story. Janie still found herself wondering about the truth in their whole story which lead to further investigation. Eventually Janie looks up the family who put the add on the carton and finds quickly that she has much in common with the other children playing outside... ( )

The Face on the Milk Carton is about a girl who's name is Janie Johnson and is a a fifteen year old who is having lunh with her friends and suddenly sees a girl on a milk carton and says that its herbut her friends dont belive her. So then she tries to figure out whats the truth and her parents tell her that they are her grandparents and says that her mom was in a cult and wanted her to have a normal life so they raised her. So then she doen't believe her and goes to New Jersey wiht her boy friend Reeve and sees red heads and she assumes that they are her brothers because she has red hair. Later her boyfriend tells his sister and they think that her "mom" kidnapped her becuse she was lonley. At the end she sends a letter by accident and calls her real family. ( )

This book is about following clues to find the truth. In this mystery, Janie wishes she were some more fascinating person onlt to find out that she was kidnaped when she was 3. She searches for her real family behind her current family's back. She keeps this all a secret and it makes her sick. She entrusts her one friend Reeve with her secret and he helps her. the truth finally comes out in the end and Janie who is really Jennie calls her real family to let them know she's alive and well.

Vaguely remember reading this as a kid. I think I liked it then. Sensationalist stuff - girl finds out she's secretly a missing child who was stolen from her parents by the people she considers to be her real parents. ( )