Janie Johnson

Janie Johnson
First appearance	The Face on the Milk Carton
Last appearance	What Janie Found
Created by	Caroline B. Cooney
Portrayed by	Kellie Martin (actress)
In-universe information
Alias	Jennie Spring (birth name), Jane Elizabeth Johnson
Nickname	Janie
Gender	Female
Family	Frank Johnson (kidnap father), Miranda Johnson (kidnap mother), Jonathan Spring (birth father), Donna Spring (birth mother), Stephen Spring (older brother), Jodie Spring (older sister), Brendan Spring (younger brother), Brian Spring (younger brother)
Spouse	Reeve Shields

Janie Johnson is a fictional character in the series of books called The Face on the Milk Carton, Whatever Happened to Janie?, The Voice on the Radio, and What Janie Found, which was created by author Caroline B. Cooney.

Life

While at lunch one day, 15 year old Janie grabs a friend's milk carton which changes her life. She recognizes the "missing person" photo on the back of the milk carton; it happens to be herself when she was very young, dressed in a white polka dotted dress. The milk carton says that Jennie Spring was kidnapped from a New Jersey mall when she was three years old. Janie believes the carton must be some type of joke because her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, are very loving parents. Janie tries to put it out of her mind, but she begins having flashbacks, or what she calls "day mares", of events and people that don't fit in with her current life. She "remembers" other children and a woman who is not Mrs. Johnson.

Janie goes to the attic and rummages through the boxes that she finds there. In the boxes she finds school papers with the name Hannah. She also finds the polka-dotted white dress that she saw on the milk carton. When confronted by Janie, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson explain that Hannah is their daughter, and that Janie is Hannah's daughter, their granddaughter. Hannah was a confused child and joined a cult at a young age. She was married to one of the men in her cult and one day showed up at the Johnson's' house with Janie. Hannah returned to her cult, and the Johnson's left with Janie fearing that the cult would try to get her back, moving to a different state, and even changing their names from "Javensen" to "Johnson." Janie comes to the conclusion that the memories are of her life in the cult before coming to the Johnson's. Janie is relieved that the people whom she believed to be her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, were not kidnappers.

However, Janie cannot get the picture on the milk carton or the memories of another family out of her mind. She researches the Jennie Spring kidnapping. She comes to the conclusion that her parents might have actually kidnapped her. But, she still loves them and tries to forgive them. Still, Janie and her boyfriend Reeve go to New Jersey to see the Spring family with their own eyes. The entire family has the same red hair that Janie has, and which neither Mr. or Mrs. Johnson, or even Hannah have. It is evidence that Janie can't ignore, but she tries to anyway. She writes the Spring family a letter, but she doesn't mail the letter because she is still unsure about what to do. While at school, Janie loses the letter and the decision of whether to tell or not is taken out of her hands, as she realizes that someone might have dropped it in the mail. She and Reeve go to her parents and confront them with everything they've learned. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are shocked. They figure that Hannah was probably the one who kidnapped Janie; they also decide that the Springs must be called. Janie tries to keep them from telling anyone because she loves them very much and doesn't want to hurt or leave them. But Janie's mother is adamant, the Springs have been without their daughter for too long. In the end, Mrs. Johnson calls the Springs and Janie talks to what might be her real mother for the first time.

Janie also discovers that the birthday her Johnson parents gave her, May 10, is not her real birthday. She is actually 6 months younger than she thought, her real birthday being November 4.

A month after finding her birth parents, dealing with the media, and going through lawyers, Janie is taken from her adoptive parents, the Johnson's, and goes to live with her biological parents and four siblings, Stephen, Jodie, Brian and Brendan. Although all of the Spring family members are eager to include her, she desperately misses her adoptive parents whom she is allowed no contact with so she is emotionally aloof, she also has some trouble adjusting, she is called "Jennie" by the family, she goes to a new school where she knows no one, and she lives in very close quarters with her new brothers and sister. As things start to improve and Janie starts to feel more at home, though, they experience a setback when the FBI shows up to question Janie. Finally, Janie asserts her desire to return to her adopted family after talking to her birth mother by calling her "Mom" for the first time, and her biological parents love her enough to let her go. However, Janie's siblings, Stephen and Jodie, angry and upset that they are once again losing their sister, journey to New York to find the woman responsible for everything. The police discovered Hannah had been arrested in New York City several years previously for prostitution. They are sent home by a police officer who tells them that while they may not have had their justice against Hannah, but Hannah's life has clearly been ruined, hits in the face she now works the streets as a prostitute, with a kidnapping charge against her. However, Stephen and Jodie do have their sister back and should enjoy that more than anything.

6 months after moving back in with her Johnson family, Janie is relieved that life seems to be settling down but she misses her boyfriend Reeve Shields, who is away at college at Boston. As for Reeve, college life seems overwhelming; when the opportunity for fame in a late-night gig at the school radio station proves irresistible, he finds himself spilling Janie's story over the airwaves. Reeve is so sure Janie will never discover what's making his broadcast such a hit that he doesn't stop himself.

Meanwhile, Janie has developed a closer relationship with her biological family, the Springs. Her sister, Jodie Spring, has college interviews in Boston, including one at Hills College, where Reeve attends. Brian, Janie and Jodie's younger brother, tags along, as does Janie. They plan to surprise Reeve by showing up. At the hotel, they tune into Reeve's radio station and hear Reeve doing "a janie" as it was known in Hills College. When Janie finds out that her beloved Reeve is making all her business public Janie, Jodie and Brian flip.

During his show Reeve gets a call from a woman calling herself "Hannah". Rather than face the possibility of talking to Janie's kidnapper, he hangs up. "He could destroy all the tapes in all the radio stations in Boston...if Hannah decided she wanted airtime, somebody else would give it to her. He had no control. For the first time in his life, he was standing in the middle of a situation that would do whatever it wanted." Later Reeve's sister, an attorney who had assisted Reeve and Janie from the beginning, states that her further research into this case has revealed that Hannah died several years previously in California (and could not have been that caller).

Janie breaks up with Reeve and asks him to not call or come to her house again. Though Reeve claims he still loves her and only made a mistake, Janie refuses to forgive him, though she still loves him. Reeve tries to talk to Janie and explain things to her, but Janie keeps refusing to be with him. When Janie is visiting her Spring family during the Thanksgiving holidays, Janie tells Mrs. Spring what happened in Boston, and she suggests Janie forgives Reeve, or at least speaks to him. In the end Janie decides to talk to Reeve about what he has done.

7 months later, Janie's two families appear to have made peace. Life seems almost normal. Janie has even decided to speak to her former boyfriend, Reeve Shields. But when Janie's Connecticut father Frank Johnson suffers a stroke, and the tragedy leaves her mother reeling, Janie must step in to manage family finances and to emotionally support her mother.

While handling her father's bills, Janie discovers that her Johnson father has been in contact with Hannah, his real daughter, all along and Janie discovers where Hannah is living which so happens to be the town where Stephen, her older brother, is going to college at. Reeve and Brian find out Janie's plans and go with her to Boulder, Colorado. During her time there, Stephen and Janie are able to get past their grunges against each other and actually be brother and sister, even though Stephen broke up with his girlfriend, Katherine, because she couldn't let the story of Janie's kidnapping go and kept bringing her ex-FBI father into the situation and even once called Janie "Jennie-Janie". Reeve and Brian tell Janie to write Hannah one last check and then cut her off and out of Janie's life for good. Janie does that and on the plane back to Connecticut, she finds a letter from Stephen in her purse, saying that maybe they can finally let go of what happened when she was 3 and actually be a real family. Reeve and Janie also get back together. In the end, Janie finds herself.

Characterization

Physical Appearance

Janie has been described as having long, thick curly auburn red hair. She is small in size and looks a lot like her birth father.

Personality traits; interests

Janie is very popular at her school due to what happened to her when she was 3 years old. She is always changing her room and holds on to things. She is stubborn and cares about her family but can make tough choices. She also represses her emotions. She loves to shop and wear unique clothes. And is fucking retarted. >.<

Differences between the movie and book

In the movie, Janie's kidnap last name is Jessmon, her birth name is Jennifer Marguerite Sands, and her birth mothers name is Sada. She has straight red hair, and Jodie is her younger, not older sister. The twins don't exist in the movie. Her mom also hates her.