Thoughts 
The Face on the Milk Carton (Janie Johnson #1) by Caroline B. Cooney, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group 1991, 184 pages
I was fortunate enough to be asked to read aloud a few chapters of this book while I was subbing for the Special Education Department at the High School and it just happened to be Read Aloud Day! Nifty.
And then I was firmly entrenched in the story and just had to find out what happens next but they wouldn’t let me take a book home with me so I had to wait until I was subbing again the next week.
And… 
I give it four slices of pie for its addictiveness and charm of characters and the urgent sense of drama! Four slices of HONEY PIE due to the milk ingredient as featured in my year’s project book. 
But was mildly upset with the ending. Such a cliff-hanger and obvious setup for the next book. Boo.
Still, it was quick and engaging and I enjoyed the chance to read while at work AND help with the students.
Synopsis: A happy daydreaming young girl sees her face on one of the milk cartons at school lunch and it sends her into quite a tizzy with the What Ifs. What if her loving parents kidnapped her? Does she have another “REAL” family? Are these new flashback memories TRUTH? Why won’t her mother let her see her birth certificate?
Her awesome boyfriend-next-door is adorable and he helps her ‘face’ the dilemmas.
Will I be reading on? Probably not. I’m just like that. “Book One of a Series and Done.” It’s how I roll…
I started with the copy above and finished with a new edition; this cover is MUCH creepier, wouldn’t you agree? 
HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine
Care's Books and Pie 
I was “Book One and Done” with this series, too! But it was a great page-turner.
I agree – I was obsessed and wanted to sit and read it all right then! But of course, class was over about half way through.
I do that with series books, at times (Twilight was enough of *that* trilogy for me). Cliffhangers make me feel a little used.
Sounds like an interesting story, though.
I’d never heard of this book until recently and now I feel like I must read it.
I had never heard of it, either. By the way, a letter is now on its way to you…
It’s certainly an interesting premise…I’m trying to imagine what I would do if I saw my picture on a milk carton. Wow.
I know! Isn’t it?
So, subbing is going well? I’d consider doing it again when Gage gets older.
I’ll send you an email…
This was an after school tv special when I was in school. I read the book a couple years ago for banned book week. Yup, this is a banned book. Why? This book has been challenged many times (and successfully banned in Teas) the reasons listed range from sexual content, challenge to authority and inappropriate for age group.
Glad you read it 🙂
Wow, I had no idea. I am glad I read it, too.
Caroline B. Cooney is THE BEST. The BEST. I LOVE her. And this series is totally not the best of her books. She has written thousands and trillions of books and my favorite is whenever the characters in her books have to go to the city and it’s super scary because of rats and thugs and chains. Ah man. It’s so great.
(But seriously, read Twenty Pageants Later. I love that one. Or Camp Girl Meets Boy.)
Ok, I will put those books on the list. I do have Howl’s Moving Castle, ya know, from the library.
that new cover is awful! oh my.
I know, right!? 😀
LOL–I can’t believe they wouldn’t let you take it home and finish it! 😛 Why, why, WHY do so many books have to in series? *sigh* But still…you did make this one sound fun…temptation looms…
And it is very short.
That is such a fabulous premise that I can’t believe nobody else has written it into a book (that I know of).
It never occurred to me before how hard it would be to sub (no–that definitely *did* occur to me, stop laughing and let me finish, silly) and not know what happens next–in the book, in the class, with kid X–after you leave.
Yea, challenges of subbing… the lack of feedback, no continuity. It can be an interesting job and most don’t quite understand what really makes in frustrating. I’m not in a good place about it right now, to be honest. I’m having an identity crisis, I think.
I read this series in high school and was totally obsessed. But I do remember the next books being not as good, so I bet you are safe to skip them 🙂
One and done? sometimes I do that inadvertently but i do have a list of unfinished series somewhere…
Sounds like a great read to me anyway. Thanks Care!
That new cover IS creepy! I read this one years and years ago…maybe 4th or 5th grade? I don’t remember but it must have been good enough for me to remember actually reading it. 😉 I had no idea this was a series, though!
Extremely creepy cover! And I just want you to know how difficult it is for me not to read your Possession post – I’m just dying to, but I haven’t read the book yet and still want to, so I’m holding back. Sigh.
It definitely sounds like a page turner but I hate when a book ends abruptly and you have to wait for the next one.
Abrupt is the right word!