Readers of Cooney's addictive The Face on the Milk Carton and Whatever Happened to Janie? can start licking their chops. This juicy novel serves up the further life and times of Janie Johnson, who in the previous works learned that she had been kidnapped at age three from one loving family and deposited with another. Cooney brings new readers up to speed ingeniously: Janie's boyfriend, Reeve, now a college freshman, is trying to make a name for himself at the campus radio station, and in desperation he resorts to brief installments of Janie's twisted history. He achieves almost instant popularity and fame, which help salve his conscience for betraying Janie's deepest confidences. Meanwhile Janie, a very private person, endures her senior year of high school, fending off incursions from reporters and curious classmates, and drawing closer to her birth family, the Springs. Janie hazards upon one of Reeve's broadcasts and is devastated; Cooney compensates for the predictability of this plotting with a few gorgeously timed surprises. What this novel (and its predecessors) lacks in credibility it makes up for in psychological accuracy and well-aimed, gossipy views of teens‘Cooney seems to have a special radar for adolescent longings and insecurities, not to mention campus chic (one of Reeve's fellow deejays, for example, affects the on-air name Derek Himself). Janie's appeal is so believable that readers will want to believe in the story, too, especially in the tender scenes between Janie and her Spring mother. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) Nonfiction (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Janie, who was kidnapped from her birth parents at age three and ended up with the Johnson family in Cooney's The Face on the Milk Carton (1990) and Whatever Happened to Janie? (1993), is finally coming to terms with her past. She's also recovering from years of intense media notoriety and wants to be a normal high school senior. Her biggest problem is missing her boyfriend, Reeve, away at college in Boston. Reeve isn't very happy either, but not because of Janie. On campus he's just another face in the crowd; in his quest for attention, he becomes a talk show host on the college's radio station. He has little to say at first; to avoid dead air he tells the one story he knows well, of Janie's kidnapping and the incredible events that followed. The show's a smash and so is Reeve- -until Janie finds out. Heavy on a plot that gallops along, this novel is weak on just about everything else--especially Reeve's characterization. Cooney tells readers how wonderful he is (and he was, in the first two novels), but he comes across as a weak and selfish rotter; Janie's forgiveness is a bit of a leap. Scenes of newfound understanding between Janie and her birth family keep the story afloat--just barely--but despite the flaws, Janie's fans will love it. (Author tour) (Fiction. 12+)

Gr 6-10‘This companion to The Face on the Milk Carton (Bantam, 1990) and Whatever Happened to Janie (Delacorte, 1993) provides more intimate details about characters that readers have come to know and care about. Janie Johnson first saw her face on a milk carton one year ago. Reeve Shields, her boyfriend, is now a college freshman and dreams of being a talk-show DJ. As he stares at the microphone in the control room of the campus radio station, the story of Janie's kidnapping at the age of three begins to slide out of his mouth and into the airwaves of Boston. Janie, in the meantime, is trying to recover from six months of nonstop confusion in her life, having recently learned about her past. When she accompanies her newfound sister and brother on a trip to visit colleges (and see her boyfriend) in Boston, Reeve's voice on the radio makes their tumultuous lives veer in a completely new direction. The complexity of human thought and actions is vividly portrayed through the author's distinctive prose, and readers are drawn deeply into the minds and hearts of the characters. Teens who have never read about Janie's circumstances are brought up to speed by the seamless intertwining of former events throughout the story. Cooney's outstanding command of emotional tension has taken this novel to extraordinary heights.‘Jana R. Fine, Clearwater Public Library System, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this sequel to 'The Face on the Milk Carton' and 'Whatever Happened to Janie?' (both Delacorte), Janie, now a high school senior, revisits her experience of having been kidnapped as a small child. Tensions mount when Janie's boyfriend uses her story on his college radio talk show, but the crisis initiates healing between Janie and her birth family. While the characterization lacks depth and much of the book recapitulates the earlier books, fans of the series will enjoy the latest in Janie's saga. From HORN BOOK 1996, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr. 7^-10. Readers will be pleased with this sequel to The Face on the Milk Carton (1990) and Whatever Happened to Janie? (1993). Having the same sense of impending betrayal, it is difficult to put down. Because readers know Janie's betrayer is her boyfriend, Reeve, the one person she trusts unconditionally, the wait for her to discover his treachery is even more suspenseful. Yearning for popularity, Reeve wrangles a job as a deejay at his college radio station but freezes at the mike. Desperate to fill the dead air, he begins to tell Janie's story, fully aware she will never forgive him for it. He spins the story out for several weeks, though, rationalizing that Janie will never know. However, when she accompanies Jodie and Brian on a college visit, the three hear Reeve tell two "janies" and a "hannah." Furious, they confront Reeve, who promises to quit but finds that almost as difficult as his realization that Janie cannot shrug off his actions. Janie unexpectedly discovers strength, the possibility of forgiving Reeve, and real love for the Spring family when she decides to tell Mrs. Spring of Reeve's betrayal. Readers will again enjoy Cooney's skillful use of multiple points of view, and a conclusion that promises real happiness for Janie and her families. --Chris Sherman