The Face on the Milk Carton

I can't believe I haven't read this book until now. I was so sucked in to this book I couldn't put it down until I was finished. This was an amazing story that really tugged at my heart for everyone involved - for both sets of parents and the teen-aged girl caught in the middle. It did seem vaguely familiar and I know I must have seen the movie on TV (or parts of it) when I was younger. This book was very well written so that you can really imagine the characters and feel the anguish they were feeling. I wish I had had the opportunity to read this book when I was a teen. I was actually newly married and on my own by that point but had I been still at home I would not have been allowed to read it or watch it since my parents were very religious and strict. According to Wikipedia, “The book was number 80 on the most frequently challenged books in the US for 1990-1999 and number 29 for 2000-2009.” Apparently it was banned in Texas but I'm not sure if it was banned anywhere else. The reasons it was challenged was for sexual content (which was never carried out) and challenging authority. This is one of those things were I believe each parent should make the decision what their own kids can or cannot read. A high school student should certainly be able to read this book. I would have let my boys read it and plan to ask them if they want to (they are through school)

In a lot of respects, this is pretty dated–like first of all does any school have milk in cartons anymore? and if they do, they definitely don't have missing children? The fat-shaming and food obsession actually isn't dated exactly–that shit's still all over contemporary YA–but it's still gross.

STILL at its heart there is just something so compelling about the core premise of this!

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-78-the-face-on-the-milk-carton/

2.0 ★
this was painful to read, the writing is so bad it hurts. i just wanted to find out what really happened to her and i had to go through the pits of hell to do it... not sure it was worth it. i found out about this book on a subreddit where people are looking for a book based on what they remember, and it seemed so interesting when i first found the post. they also mentioned they teach this in some american schools and i wanted to see what they read. worst mistake i could make. this seems like something 4th grade me would write, when i didn't know any rules of writing and mentioning things without explaining them. my god, i still can't believe i read this