ALA Booklist

In a gripping sequel to The Face on the Milk Carton (1990), Janie is a typical 15-year-old, except that she has two families. After discovering that she is the missing face on a milk carton, Janie returns to her birth family, which has been searching for her since her kidnapping at age three. This unusual story presents the struggles of Janie, her siblings, and both sets of parents in an engrossing fashion. Janie promises she will have no contact with her adoptive family for three months, but everyone underestimates how difficult this will be. Which woman deserves the title and affection reserved for Mom? What name does she write on her papers at school--Janie Johnson or Jennie Spring? The gut-wrenching circumstances in which the characters find themselves are honestly conveyed, and while most YAs won't be able to identify with the situation, all readers will be able to recognize the powerful emotions of love, hate, and anger that Cooney sensitively portrays. (Reviewed June 1993)

Horn Book

In this sequel to 'The Face on the Milk Carton' (Delacorte), Janie Johnson has discovered that her name is really Jennie Spring--she had been kidnapped as a small child. Janie's contented life is disrupted when she is sent to live with her biological family and must decide who she is and where she belongs. Less successful than its predecessor, the novel tries to explore the feelings and reactions not only of Janie/Jennie, but also of both families, and the result is somewhat disjointed and forced.

Kirkus Reviews

In The Face on the Milk Carton (1990), Janie discovered that she was kidnapped as a three-year-old and adopted by the Johnsons, who believed her to be the child of their unstable daughter Hannah. Now, at 15, she moves in with her birth parents. Janie comes to like the Springs, but misses the Johnsons with a ferocity no one has predicted. There's ambivalence among all involved; her raucous birth family wants to be ``whole'' again, but finds Janie a somewhat petulant stranger who, as the only child of well-off parents, is accustomed to privacy and privileges. No one can figure out how to redress the wrongs—the Springs' lost years, the Johnsons' separation from the child they've loved so long. Readers will like Janie, who has all the less-than-noble afflictions of a real teenager. In fact, aside from a tacked-on attempt by Janie's birth siblings to find Hannah, the book is filled with characters making poignantly realistic decisions; perhaps the hallmark here is that nobody can win. Cooney avoids feel-good answers and wrestles with the issues; readers will be fascinated by the debate and saddened by the realization that—in this case—a happy ending is all but an impossibility. (Fiction. 11+)"

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Readers left on the edge of their seats at the conclusion of The Face on the Milk Carton will race to get their hands on this equally gripping sequel. Janie is an illegally adopted child who discovered the existence of her natural parents 12 years after her kidnapping. As this phase of the saga begins, Janie Johnson (nee Jennie Spring) has contacted her real mother and father, who have lost no time in reclaiming her. Trying to do the right thing, the 15-year-old agrees to leave her much-loved adoptive parents' home in a small Connecticut town and move to the Springs' crowded New Jersey split-level. The Springs' expectations prove to be too great for homesick Janie, who cannot stop thinking about the pain her adoptive parents are suffering and feels guilty whenever she begings to be the slightest bit happy in her new household. Janie's struggle to sort out who she is and where she belongs turns out to be profoundly upsetting not only for herself, but also for both sets of parents and her natural older sister and three brothers. Cooney builds a strong case for the rights of adoptive parents while painting a sympathetic portrait of birth parents who have given up a child, unwillingly or otherwise. The power and nature of love is wrenchingly illustrated throughout this provocative novel, which expresses multiple points of view with remarkable understanding. However strange the events of this book, the emotions of its characters remain excruciatingly real. Ages 12-up. (June)

School Library Journal

Gr 7-10-- Cooney's The Face on the Milk Carton (Bantam, 1990) involved a 15-year-old girl who discovers she had been kidnapped when she was 3. Those left hanging by the ambiguous ending to that story will want to read this sequel in which Janie goes to live with her biological parents and four siblings. Although all of the family members are eager to include her, she's determined to remain emotionally aloof. Finally, Janie asserts her desire to return to her adopted family, and her biological parents love her enough to let her go. The strength of this book is that all of the parties are easy to empathize with. They are well-rounded characters with quirks and annoying qualities, yet all have compassion for the other guy,'' even while feeling their own pain. The suspense centers around the question of which family needs Janie more and which she will choose. There is no clear answer to her dilemma since both love her and have suffered through no fault of their own. While Janie ultimately puts her own feelings first by choosing the family that isreal'' to her, the stage is set for future changes of heart and perhaps another sequel. Meanwhile, this book won't gather dust on the shelf. --Jacqueline Rose, Southeast Regional Library, NC