Books --- Janie Face to Face

For those of us who are fans of Caroline B. Cooney's "The Face on the Milk Carton" series, this fifth, and final, book is a satisfying conclusion to many of Janie's problems, not the least of which is trying to remember that her legal name is Jennie, not Janie.

For those of you who have not read the previous volumes --- "The Face on the Milk Carton," "Whatever Happened to Janie," "The Voice on the Radio," and "What Janie Found" --- I would highly recommend that you read at least the first and third volumes before "Janie Face to Face."  If you do then you will understand the problems she has with trying to juggle two families, while loving both of them, and with loving someone she is not sure she can trust.

One problem I have with reading books by Caroline B. Cooney, is trying to keep track of the point of view.  Many books by other authors are written in first person, and those that are not, mostly confine the point of view to one main character, or keep shifts in point of view in separate chapters.  This is not so with Ms. Cooney.  She excells at letting the reader know how almost everyone in the story feels about what is going on.  This sometimes requires a shift in point of view from one paragraph to the next.  Surprisingly, I did not have a problem with it in this book.

Almost all of Ms. Cooney's books are based in this world with no fantasy or paranormal activity.  Her characters are realistically portrayed, even down to their struggle to keep up some kind of relationship with God.  This book is not different in that respect. If you can read this book without tears of happiness running down your face then perhaps "Other people's feelings are not really on your radar." (Cleo to Rikki, H2O just add water, season 1, episode 9)

Read well