Synopses & Reviews
The Voice on the Radio, now in paperback, is the highly anticipated companion to
The Face on the Milk Carton and
Whatever Happened to Janie?, by best selling author Caroline B. Cooney:
Janie's life finally seems to be settling down. But she really misses Reeve Shields, her boyfriend who is away at college. Reeve is overwhelmed by his new college life, and when he is asked to host a late-night radio show, he cannot turn it down. But he is stressed, and he finds himself spilling Janie's secrets on the air, certain that Janie will never find out. But will Janie have to pay for Reeve's lapse in judgement?
About the Author
Caroline B. Cooney is the author of Goddess of Yesterday (an ALA Notable Childrens Book); The Ransom of Mercy Carter; and The Face on the Milk Carton (an IRA-CBC Childrens Choice). She lives in Westbrook, CT.
Teacher Guide
NOTE TO TEACHERS
The Voice on the Radio
Caroline B. Cooney
Grades 6-8
(Of Interest to Reluctant Readers! )
ABOUT THIS BOOK
From avid readers to reluctant readers, kids love Caroline B. Cooney, one of today's most popular and acclaimed writers of young adult fiction. With page-turning suspense, Cooney explores in The Voice on the Radio the themes of betrayal and peer pressure along with the power of words and the intensity of love. Use this Book Talk to get your students interested.
Book Talk
The kidnapping is long past. Janie Johnson is relieved that life seems to be settling down for the Springs and the Johnsons. But Reeve Shields, Janie's boyfriend, is away at college, and she misses him terribly, no matter how many e-mails they send each other.
As for Reeve, he's finding life at college overwhelming. He goes to work at the school radio station, hoping a late-night gig will give him what he craves--popularity and fame. Reeve gets his chance to be the voice on the radio, and when he tells the most fascinating story he knows, his show becomes a sensation. Reeve is so sure that Janie will never discover what's making his broadcast such a hit that he doesn't stop himself. But what will be the price for Janie? Whose voice will help her when she must face not only her incredible past but her unknown future?
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Caroline B. Cooney talks about what inspired The Voice on the Radio...
If I never intended to write a first sequel to The Face on the Milk Carton, I certainly never intended to write a third. But I had been thinking a lot about talk radio and talk television and some particularly horrible events that occurred when the host of a talk show forced action upon people who were guests on her show. And the essential amorality of it really stuck with me that you go on these shows in order to sell other people's personal secrets as casually as if you were selling a vacuum cleaner.
And I thought, what if Reeve goes to college, gets involved with a talk radio station, and retells Janie's story as casually and with as little thought as everyone does when they get into talk shows. And not only is he totally betraying her and both those families and everything he's been brought up to be, but what if then the kidnapper calls in. So it's now irrevocably opened.
REVIEWS
• "[Cooney] has taken this novel to extraordinary heights." -- Starred, School Library Journal
• "Readers of Cooney's addictive The Face on the Milk Carton and Whatever Happened to Janie? can start licking their chops....Cooney [has] a special radar for adolescent longings and insecurities...." -- Starred, Publishers Weekly
• "A 'must purchase'....The Voice on the Radio elicits a powerful response in readers and is a real page-turner, so plan to purchase multiple copies to satisfy the demands of your teen readers." -- 5P 5Q, Voice of Youth Advocates
• "Difficult to put down." -- Booklist
• "Seeing Caroline Cooney's name on a book is enough for me to buy it! Her thoughtful, high-interest novels have motivated even our reluctant readers to read!" -- J.M., Reading Specialist, Massachusetts
• "If you school is like ours, students will be lining up to reserve The Voice on the Radio. We've ordered additional copies to meet the demand because even reluctant readers (and teachers too!) have been caught up in Janie's story." -- C.S., School Library Media Specialist, Illinois
Author Q&A
Caroline Cooney was born in 1947 and grew up in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. An excellent student and ambitious youth, she loved school and was involved in many different activities. By the time she was in tenth grade, Cooney played the piano for musical productions, directed a choir, and had a job as a church organist. Always an avid reader, Cooney often read series books such as
The Hardy Boys and
Cherry Ames. These characters had a big influence on her life and in fact, she says "
Cherry Ames, Student Nurse, was my reason to go to nursing school in Boston later in life."
Coooney graduated from Greenwich High School in 1965 and attended various colleges, where she studied music, art, and English. It was in college that she began writing, and discovered a talent and joy in what would become an award-winning writing career. Cooney professes, "I love writing and do not know why it is considered such a difficult, agonizing profession. I love all of it, thinking up the plots, getting to know the kids in the story, their parents, backyards, pizza toppings."
Cooney's love of writing for young adults is clearly demonstrated in her numerous celebrated novels including: Driver's Ed (An ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults, and a Booklist Editors' Choice), Among Friends (A New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age), Twenty Pageants Later (An ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers), and the time travel novels, Both Sides of Time and Out of Time. She is a master of mixing spellbinding suspense with thought-provoking insight into teenagers' lives.
Among Cooney's most popular books are the bestselling novels The Face on the Milk Carton, Whatever Happened to Janie? and The Voice on the Radio. These gripping novels tell the story of Janie Johnson, a young girl who recognizes herself in a picture of a missing child on a milk carton, and subsequently unravels a complicated history of abduction, fear and deceit. To satisfy the hundreds of fans wanting to know more, Cooney concluded Janie's captivating story with What Janie Found, a gripping novel of betrayal.
author fun facts
Born: May 10 in Geneva, New York
Education: Greenwich, CT schools and various colleges
Residence: Westbrook, CT
Children: Louisa, Sayre (rhymes with fair), Harold
Inspiration for writing: I love a good story. I love to make things up.
Favorite. . . hobbies: I read a lot. I buy books. I'm in a library (I use several) or a bookstore almost every day
because I have to be around other people's books, too. I sing in several choirs, or play the piano for them.
. . . foods: I'm omnivorous.
. . . books: I read series books: Cherry Ames, Student Nurse, was the reason I went to nursing school. But my favorite series, and the only one I saved, was Magic by the Lake by Edward Eager.