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soulkissed2003 's review for:
The Face on the Milk Carton
by Caroline B. Cooney
One day in the school cafeteria, a teenager picks up one of the milk cartons and sees her face staring back at her from a photo of a missing child. Her entire world is overturned. Her "parents" have secrets. What is the truth? Who is this real family of hers? Where does she fit in the world?
The premise of the story is fascinating, and the suspense is palpable.
However, at least with this novel, the author had NO idea what teens in the early 1990s were like. We weren't sipping from milk cartons -- we were hooked on Snapple. We didn't have friends with names like Adair, Sarah-Charlotte, and Reeve. I think maybe she watched too many soap operas! We sure didn't call our parents "Mommy" and "Daddy" at 15 years old. Another inconsistency -- and I found this one hilarious -- is that Janie, the main character, is supposedly lactose intolerant yet her parents buy her yogurt and frozen pizza, and order in or take her out for pizza pretty regularly. Some things were not researched well or thought through about this story. Also, Janie and her friends often speak like adults in the 1950s, not like teens.
And yet, I could not put it down and I want to continue reading the series.
As an adoptee who grew up with my biological family history held in tight secrecy, who later found my parents and extended family on both sides, stories like this are so relatable to me. What makes you "you" -- nature, nurture, your own determination? Where do you come from, and how does it affect how you see yourself, and your place in society?
I was trying to figure out, even though I like books where people find out a surprise origin story, why I had picked up on a book a few decades old. Then I realized that the author, Caroline B. Cooney, also wrote "Before She Was Helen", which was also pretty good -- and has SOME similar themes in that there are family secrets and suspenseful build up and a solidly good story idea. The good news is that the author's writing got better with age.
The premise of the story is fascinating, and the suspense is palpable.
However, at least with this novel, the author had NO idea what teens in the early 1990s were like. We weren't sipping from milk cartons -- we were hooked on Snapple. We didn't have friends with names like Adair, Sarah-Charlotte, and Reeve. I think maybe she watched too many soap operas! We sure didn't call our parents "Mommy" and "Daddy" at 15 years old. Another inconsistency -- and I found this one hilarious -- is that Janie, the main character, is supposedly lactose intolerant yet her parents buy her yogurt and frozen pizza, and order in or take her out for pizza pretty regularly. Some things were not researched well or thought through about this story. Also, Janie and her friends often speak like adults in the 1950s, not like teens.
And yet, I could not put it down and I want to continue reading the series.
As an adoptee who grew up with my biological family history held in tight secrecy, who later found my parents and extended family on both sides, stories like this are so relatable to me. What makes you "you" -- nature, nurture, your own determination? Where do you come from, and how does it affect how you see yourself, and your place in society?
I was trying to figure out, even though I like books where people find out a surprise origin story, why I had picked up on a book a few decades old. Then I realized that the author, Caroline B. Cooney, also wrote "Before She Was Helen", which was also pretty good -- and has SOME similar themes in that there are family secrets and suspenseful build up and a solidly good story idea. The good news is that the author's writing got better with age.