The Milk Carton Chapter 3 Summary

In the first few chapters of this novel we quickly learn who Janie Johnson is and what kind of circumstances she lives through. In chapter 1 we see how Janie’s parents are very strict with her trough not allowing her to drive. We are also introduced to what is ultimately the object that will create the main conflict in the story, the milk carton. In Janie’s school the milk cartons come printed with the face of a missing kid from years ago. It states that Janie is lactose intolerant, yet at the end of the chapter Janie decides to take Sarah’s, one of her friends, milk to wash down her peanut butter sandwich, this leads to her seeing the picture of the missing kid and it looks just like her. In fact, she remembers taking that picture and wearing

the exact outfit as in the picture. In chapter 2 Janie continues to think about the fact that she may be kidnapped. She does think that there’s no way that could be the case as her parents are very loving and she begins to think that maybe the milk just messed up her head due to her lactose problems. It seems as if her day can’t get worse and she misses the bus and must go through rain. She is picked up by Reeve, her neighbor and secret admirer, they drive up a hillside and talk about how life sucks. Reeve is the only one out four brothers who isn’t going to college and his mom is disappointed in him. They end up going for ice cream and in the process Janie gets a daydream of her eating ice cream with an older woman, they laugh and hug. Janie gets too paranoid and they end up leaving.
In chapter 3 Janie goes back home and we learn that there are no baby pictures of her anywhere.

She explains that her parents had told her that they didn’t own a camera until she was five and that’s why; however, this now really makes Janie question their answer. The girl’s name on the milk carton is Jennie Spring which has somewhat mirrors Janie. Towards the end, Janie is decorating cakes with her mom when she has another daydream, this time while writing out “Happy Birthday” on the cake she wondered what date of birth did Jennie have on the milk carton. Chapter 4 shows Janie asking her mom to see her birth certificate; however, her mom makes up multiple excuses for her to not see it. This angers Janie leading her to go see Reeve. There she helps him rake leafs, and asks if he knows whether 800 phone numbers can track down phone calls, this makes Reeve laugh and as we move on to chapter 5 we see them kiss. Janie tries to call the phone number on the milk carton but ultimately fails as she is too scared, she then tries talking to a friend on the phone but knows that that could lead to bad rumors going around. In Chapter 6 Janie and her family meets up with Reeve and his family for a tailgate party. Here Janie and Reeve both finally get the courage flirt with each other publicly. This leads to Janie’s friends asking about their relationship at school, also in Spanish class it’s announced that there will be a winter vacation to Spain. Janie knows that this is the perfect

opportunity to get her birth certificate as she would need a passport to travel.
Janie is left home alone in chapter 7, this gives her the idea to go and look for the bank key that would give her the birth certificate. She can’t find it, so she decides to go look into the attic for anything that can deny her doubt of being adopted. She finds the different boxes labeled for each one of them; however, finds one labeled Hannah, she has never met anyone with that name. She finds a picture of her in the box it says she is “sweet, blond, mild”, she continues to look through the box eventually finding a dress, once she takes it out she notices that it is the dress on the milk carton. Chapter 8 shows her parents coming home and her not being able to eat. Janie can’t seem to understand what the dress is doing in her attic, she tries to tell Reeve everything but can’t. This makes Janie lose even more patience so as she walks into her house after getting a ride from Reeve, she asks her parents why there’s no baby pictures of her, who is Hannah, and why they won’t let her see her birth certificate. Chapter 9 her parents explain that they are her grandparents and Hanna is actually her mom. In a way, Janie feels relief as she thinks that at least she is related to her “parents”. They also explain to her that Hannah joined a cult at age sixteen called the hare Krishna movement, causing her to drift away from them, until she came back with Janie. Hannah wanted Janie to stay with them, Janie believes them and hugs them with much love.
In chapter 10 Janie wakes up from a nightmare and is no longer satisfied with her parent’s story.

She thinks about how it covers the part about Hannah good; however, it doesn’t answer all the daydreams/flashbacks that she has a swell as the poka dot dress up in the attic. Since it is raining Reeve takes Janie to school, but on their way there Janie tells him to get on the highway and head to New Jersey; Reeve thinks she is joking but soon sees she is serious and follows her orders. Leading on to chapter 11 the two are headed to Jersey and have been driving for many hours. Janie tells Reeve everything but he doesn’t believe her as it seems contrary to how Reeve has come to see her parents. Janie decides that she wants to go look for the Spring family, so they look for a that family in a phone book. They find and address and head over to it, once they get there a school bus is dropping off kids. Two kids with red hair head over to the address they were looking for, the person who opened the door for them also had red hair just like Janie. They also came across a teenage boy with red hair going in to the same house, now Janie asked Reeve to please take her home as she now didn’t want all this proof to be real. They head home; however, they are met by traffic leading to them thinking about staying at a motel. In chapter 12 Janie explains to Reeve that she can’t have sex with him yet she’s not ready, Reeve understands still making out with her. They leave the motel even though

they had already paid for a stay, as they go home Janie and Reeve talk about how Janie’s parents seem so innocent and how they probably have already called the cops thinking that she ran away just like Hannah. As they get home they are too scared to go inside, but before they get the courage to go inside they are met by their angry parents instead.
Chapter 13 starts out with Janie and Reeve both being screamed at by their parents, they knew that this was coming but Janie is able to get both of them off the hook by explaining how she needed time to think and someone to talk to and Reeve had agreed to be that person. Later on Janie finds a newspaper report about Jennie Spring further proving that she was kidnapped, Reeve meets up with her at the library and shows her research papers about the cult that her so called mother was part of. Before Janie can read anything she remembers that she hasn’t called her mom to let her know what she’s doing, she calls to let off any suspicion and tells her mom that they should go to her dad’s soccer game. So they head to the soccer game in chapter 14, Janie’s dad is glad to see her there, they end up winning the game and then going out to eat pizza. Later that day while at the dinner table Janie remembers a prayer, this is odd as her family isn’t religious so she shouldn’t remember any prayers. During her next school day, she begins to write a letter explaining everything that she knows about her kidnapping, she also become angry with herself as she thinks that she was a stupid little kid by allowing herself to be kidnapped, but Reeve assures her that it is definitely not her fault. So in chapter 15 Janie is planning to go out with Reeve for a drive, while asking for permission from her parents her notebook falls open revealing the milk carton; however she moves quick not allowing her parents to see it. As they drive Reeve reveals to Janie that he told Lizzie, his sister, everything in hopes of getting some lawyer advice from her. This make Janie really angry and feeling betrayed she tells Reeve that he should of never done that. Reeve explains to her that Lizzie did some research on the kidnapping and has thought of what might have actually happened. She thinks that maybe her parents didn’t kidnap her but Hannah did. Janie decides that despite having this info maybe it is for the best if she just forgets about everything and just lives her life with the family she has grown up with.
In Chapter 16 Janie has a sleepover with Reeve and some of their couple friends. After the games Janie tries calling the 800 number, but nobody answers making her paranoid. As Reeve drover her home she began to feel sick causing her to throw up on the side road, she feels like that’s a way of her body cleaning itself from all the stress she is going through. Reeve tells her that she must tell her parents about everything otherwise she will never be at peace; however she says that she wouldn’t be able to choose between the two families, but Reeve explains that nobody would make her choose. Reeve no angry with her always sad mood tells her that she must tell her parents or he would leave her, Janie annoyed by this runs inside her home crying, and explains to her parents that she broke up with Reeve. Chapter 17 shows how sad Janie has become and how Reeve seems to have completely forgotten about her. She now understands that she did the wrong thing by not putting Reeves love over her paranoid believes of being kidnapped. She finishes writing the letter she was writing and puts it in an envelope with both her and the Spring’s address. As she makes her way to school weakened by her lack of eating, she notices that the letter is missing, she rushes to Reeve to ask for help in finding it. Reeve explains that nobody took the letter but instead she probably mailed it herself and just didn’t notice from being sick due to the heartbreak and bad nutrition. He apologizes for everything and tells her that he will help her tell the kidnapping story to her Johnson family. Finally in the last chapter 18 Lizzie helps Janie tell her parents the truth about how Hannah actually kidnapped her and she was never actually their granddaughter. Janie feels such relief from finally letting her “parents” know; however, they are heartbroken. They aren’t sure of what the Spring family will want to do to them after learning that their daughter is alive. Janie assures them that she won’t let anything happen to them, and so her mother calls the Smith household so that Janie can finally meet up with her real family again. The book ends with a lady picking up the phone and Janie saying, “Hi. It’s… You’re daughter. Me. Jennie.”