thefaceonthemilkcarton

Judge A Book By Its Cover

Book Reviews and Synopses

The Face on the Milk Carton

Caroline B. Cooney

Cooney, Caroline. The Face on the Milk Carton. Laurel Leaf Books.

N.Y., New York. 1990.

Caroline B. Cooney’s The Face on the Milk Carton is a book of mystery

and suspense, that has a significant amount of excitingly horrific

scenes. The description and creativity used in this book will keep you

from putting it down until the end. Cooney is a gifted writer who

incorporated her talent into her work once again. However, The Face on

the Milk Carton was not one of her best.

The Face on the Milk Carton is a story about Rosy, a little girl who

lived in Omaha, Nebraska. One day, she supposedly went missing out of

the blue. Her picture, along with some visual information, was on the

cover of the miniature cartons of milk that were served at the school

cafeteria for years. Rosy’s disappearance gave the students of the

school plenty to talk about during the lunch hour. It made the kids

giddy with excitement thinking about the possibilities of why she was

missing. The same questions kept being asked: ‘What could have

happened to her?’ and ‘Why hadn’t anyone found her yet?’

Over the years, Rosy became a boring topic among the children and

everyone eventually assumed she was dead - Except James Reed, who one

day recognized her familiar face after straining to remember who it

was.

James’ parents had been close friends with Rosy's for a long time

before Rosy was born. James recalled overhearing a conversation

between his and Rosy's parents, a few days after she was born. Her

parents had not wanted a child, and that they were going into debt

because of her.

James had a suspicion that it was Rosy's own parents that eliminated

her, and that they told the police that she was missing to cover up

what they had done. A few other people had suspected her parents as

well, but James was the only one who ached with the desire to find out

what really happened to Rosy. He was ready to take action.

Cooney’s The Face on the Milk Carton was as scary as it was

disappointing. The end was lacking description, originality, and did

not make sense. It took so much away from the rest of the book and is

almost as if Cooney had died right before she got a chance to finish

her book and a maniac tried to finish what is now her “masterpiece.”

It was frustrating in an unexplainable kind of way, and it is not

recommended to anyone of any age.

2 out of 5 stars.

Contributed by C. Corazza.

October 20, 2011