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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
I first read the Janie Johnson books in seventh grade. Well, only the first two books. I don't know why I didn't continue reading. But any who, this was a partial second read for me. I was so excited to read them again. I loved them so much the first time. It was a thriller and kept me on edge. I had to know what happened to Janie? This time was a bit different.
The Face on the Milk Carton (3/10)
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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
Janie Johnson has the best life she could ask for. She has parents who love her, she's about to get her licenses, she's got an amazing group of friends, and the boy next door is no longer just the boy next door. But then one day at lunch, she looks at her friends milk carton and sees a little girl in a black and white checked dress with her hair in braids down each side of her head and suddenly, Janie realizes that it's her. But how can that be her? Because that would mean that her loving and devoted parents kidnapped her. That would mean that her life as she knows it is a lie.
When she finally confronts her parents, Frank and Miranda, they confess their dark secret. Janie isn't their daughter, but their granddaughter. One day, years ago, Hannah, their daughter, showed up on their doorstep with this little girl, and asked them to take care of her. She said her name was Janie. Hannah had been involved with a cult since college and lived a very unstable life. Frank and Miranda made a decision that would protect them and Janie: they changed their last name, they moved, and they forgot Hannah. While all of that is fine and dandy, why is Janie's face on the milk carton? Does Hannah want her back? Or worse, did Hannah kidnap Janie?
Whatever Happened to Janie? (5/10)
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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
Janie Johnson is actually Jennie Spring. The Spring family lives in New Jersey. They all have the same red hair as Janie. And they want
Jennie back. After the court tells Janie that she must go live with the Springs, life is not easy for anyone. The Johnson's have lost their re-do daughter who they love more than anything. Janie has lost the people who raised her and loved her. And the Springs do not understand why Jennie wants to be called Janie and has such a hard time adapting to life with them.
For months, Janie tries to figure out how to be Jennie while being loyal to the Johnson's. She misses everything about her old life, especially Reeve, the boy next door she just started dating when everything fell apart. Janie's siblings aren't very keen on how she is acting. Stephen has bottled his anger since the day Jennie went missing, but now that's she's around, it's hard to keep it locked down. Jodie thought that she was getting a sister back; instead she's sharing a room with someone who cries every night for her kidnap parents. Brian and Brendan, the twin, do not notice Jennie's appearance as much, they just know it's another person to share the bathroom with. How will Janie/Jennie adapt to life now?
The Voice on the Radio (4/10)
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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
Janie has moved back home with the Johnson's and is still managing to form relationships with the Spring's. But life isn't back to normal. Reeve has left for college and Janie does not know what to do without him. Reeve is having a hard time adjusting as well, but for him, it's a little different. Reeve has always been the popular guy with lots of friends. But on a college campus, he's just another guy. Until he joins the college radio station and starts telling Janie's story on the air. Everyone loves hearing his janies, and occasional hannahs. It might be wrong, but as long as Janie never finds out about the janies, then no one gets hurt, right?
Jodie decides she wants to check out colleges in Boston, where Reeve goes to school. So her, Brian, and Janie get in the car and head to Boston. They get there at night, just in time to hear Reeve on the air and tell his janie. During the break, Reeve is answering calls and gets one from a person claiming to be Hannah. But worse, Reeve gets a call from Brian letting him know that they're in Boston and heard his janie. Reeve knows that what he has done is wrong, but he also wants to know if that caller was Hannah. He has to decide if his radio career is more important than the girl he loves Janie's world has fallen apart. Reeve, the boy next door has become the man who broke her heart. But this heartbreak has led Janie to the arms of her biological mother, and begins to learn herself again, this time as a Spring.
What Janie Found (6/10)
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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
Janie has continued living with the Johnson's, but also has continued building her relationship with the Springs. Her and Jodie aren't as close as sisters are, but much closer than ever before. And Brian spends his free time with the Johnson's. Reeve has even managed to make his way slowly back into Janie's good graces, but she still refuses to date him. But when Mr. Johnson has a stroke that hospitalizes him, everything changes. Janie is forced to take over the family's finances because Mrs. Johnson is too emotionally distraught. One day, while Janie is going through different files, she finds one filed under H.J.-Hannah Javenson, the long lost, cult loving, kidnapping daughter of Frank and Miranda. Apparently, for a time, Frank had continued to financially support his daughter. Janie, who has remained loyal to the Johnson's all this time, cannot believe her father has betrayed her like this. Now Janie has to decide what to do.
But it's never that simple. When Janie realizes that the payments are being sent to a PO box in Boulder, Colorado, she decides she has to go there. Under the guise of visiting Stephen, her, Brain, and Reeve set off for Colorado to find Hannah. While there, they meet Stephen's girlfriend, Kathleen, who hadn't heard of Janie until days before the visit. Now, she wants to know everything possible about Janie and is not sneaky about it. Between finally building a relationship with Stephen, and dodging Kathleen's questions, Janie is trying to figure out what to do about Hannah. Will she seek her out? Will she continue supporting her? Or will she walk away from it?
Janie Face to Face (8/10)
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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
Finally Janie is in college. She chooses a college in the heart of New York where she can visit both families, although it's obvious that she has built a stronger relationship with the Springs since the discovery of Frank's betrayal. She has also chosen to go by Jane. Just Jane. No Spring. No Johnson. Just Jane. She hasn't told anyone about the milk carton or Hannah or the horrors of her past. But nothing is ever that easy. A writer decides he wants to write a book about Janie Johnson and the kidnapping. And they are contacting everyone from both families, Janie's high school friends, and Janie herself. But for the most part, everyone is remaining tight lipped. When Janie learns that her new boyfriend is actually a reporter for the writer, she runs back to Reeve, who proposes on the spot and Janie says yes! Now, they just have to get married by the end of the month.
On the other side of the United States, Hannah is living under assumed identities. Starting back in the 90s when she kidnapped Janie, we learn of why Hannah did it and how she expected her parents to get in trouble. But when that didn't happen, Hannah builds a hatred for them and for that child. When the face on the milk carton story hit the news, and Hannah learns that Janie has been living the life she should be living, she begins to learn everything about her parents, the Spring, and Janie/Jennie. When she learns that Janie/Jennie is getting married, she decides it time to put a plan into action. She's tired of living in filth and squalor and she is tired of the Johnson's not being punished for their crimes. She is going to make them pay.
Overall, I really enjoyed the series. When I take out the inconsistencies. The big one is the time. The Face on the Milk Carton was written in 1990, with the two consecutive books coming out in 1993 and 1996. Think of the early 90s. Phones were connected to walls by long cords. Internet in the home was unthinkable. You went to the library to do your research. Facebook and Twitter were made up words. In the first two books, Janie is a sophomore in high school; she's a junior in Voice on the Radio; she's about to start her senior year in What Janie Found. That means that Janie should have graduated high school in approximately 1993. And yet, in What Janie Found, there are many mentions of regular internet use. And in Janie Face to Face, Facebook is mentioned in pretty much every chapter. Hannah could not have found Janie without the use of Facebook. Even Janie thinks of how she looked up the Springs address from the phone book in a payphone in Milk Carton, and now she has a iPhone to use to look up anything the dreams of. And yet, Caroline B. Cooney had remained true to the timeline, payphones would still be relatively everywhere and iPhones would be about a decade away.
But, like I previously said, Hannah wouldn't have been able to find Janie if it weren't for Facebook, and the last book was probably my most favorite. Not only did it share points of view from pretty much all of the characters, it told Hannah's story. This is the story that I've been sticking around for honestly. Why did Hannah do it? How did Hannah get involved in the cult and why? Why does she have this hatred for her parents? Was it her who called the radio station? I needed answers and I got them. Well, it doesn't answer the radio station one, but she pretty much never left Colorado once she ended up there, so it probably wasn't her.
My least favorite book was probably the first one. For as much as I loved it in my youth, more than a decade later, it didn't hold up. The Voice on the Radio wasn't much better. I didn't really connect to Reeve's betrayal. However, I did like Janie's bond with the Spring family that starts to form at the end. When Janie finally calls the Spring "mom and dad," I lose it.
It was definitely interesting to read these books all these year later. And if you take out the time inconsistency, it was a very good read.
Side Note: There is a novella, What Janie Saw,
that tells a little bit about Janie and Hannah during Janie's senior year. It tells about how a band has written a song about Janie's kidnapping. Janie is upset that she sounds like a brat in the song. Hannah hates that the song isn't about her. While it was interesting, it didn't seem substantial enough to include in the main body of the review. It's placement in the series is 4.5, after What Janie Found,
before Janie Face to Face.
Series:
Janie Johnson
Author:
Caroline B. Cooney
Overall Rating: 5/10
Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Fiction
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