History Literature / Janie

* ChangelingFantasy: an unusual subversion; Janie has a serious crisis of identity when she discovers her real parents.

* MissingChild: The whole premise: imagine that your toddler daughter or little sister goes missing at the mall. About a decade later, said girl finds her face on a milk carton, recognizing the dress because it was in her family attic. She drums up the courage to call you, and you realize that her kidnapper lied to her parents about who your daughter was; the minute they find out it's possible she was kidnapped, they encourage her to make the call so another family can find her, as well as closure. Janie's biological siblings try to track down Hannah in revenge because Janie admits she's no longer their little sister.

* RaisedByGrandparents: The parents who raise Janie reveal that they are not her parents, but her grandparents, and that her real mother is their daughter, Hannah. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a lie that Hannah told them to make them accept the "replacement daughter" she stole for them.]]

* SympathyForTheDevil: In ''What Janie Found'', Janie learns that [[spoiler: Mr. Johnson has been paying Hannah regularly for the past few years. Though Janie, Reeve, and her brother react as if it were a betrayal at first, the payments were justifiable that he still cares for Hannah as his daughter despite what she has done, and perhaps he thought it would help keep Hannah from causing trouble to another innocent family.]]

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The Johnsons reveal that Hannah led them to believe that she had left the cult, gave birth to a daughter, and asked them to take care of "Janie". Fearing that the cult would come for them in revenge for Hannah's departure, they moved to another state and changed their surname, which was originally Javensen. Both parents are horrified when they realize that if they had done neither of these things, Jennie Spring would have been reunited with her real family much sooner because they would have seen the disappearance in the papers, putting two and two together.

* BlackSheep: Janie or Jennie when she rejoins the Spring family in ''Whatever Happened to Janie.''

The Janie Johnson series is a five book series by Creator/CarolineBCooney (''Literature/LosingChristina'') about a young girl named Janie Johnson who sees her own face on a milk carton and realizes that the people who raised her are not her real parents. In fact, she was stolen from her birth family (the Springs) in early childhood and the Springs want her back. The series follows the young Janie in her attempts to figure out the truth about her origins and decide who she wants to be from now on. Will she remain Janie Johnson, living with the family that is not truly hers, or become Jennie Spring and finally bring peace to the family that birthed her? The first and second book in the series were combined into a MadeForTVMovie in 1995.

* [[OverprotectiveDad Overprotective Parents]]: A completely justified trope with the Springs.

* LongRunnerTechnologyMarchesOn: ''Janie Face to Face'' as a strange variant. Published nearly 20 years after the previous book in the series, Cooney makes the unorthodox decision to move everything to the present day, rather than follow the continuity of the rest of the series, and not RetCon the rest of the series to fit. It makes for some weird timeline issues. Janie has an iPhone, uses an iPad, and a large part of the plot involves Facebook, but Donna Spring reminisces about when Janie and Reeve first found them in New Jersey--a day five years before the start of this book--back when there was no internet, no cell phones, and no GPS. Which, even if the book were set in 2007, when iPhones first came out, would be a weird thing to say.

%%* ReligionOfEvil: The cult Hannah joins.

%%* CreepyChild: Young Hannah.

%%* FieryRedhead: Janie, also her sister, Jodie and their brother.

* AdultFear: The whole premise: imagine that your toddler daughter or little sister goes missing at the mall. About a decade later, said girl finds her face on a milk carton, recognizing the dress because it was in her family attic. She drums up the courage to call you, and you realize that her kidnapper lied to her parents about who your daughter was; the minute they find out it's possible she was kidnapped, they encourage her to make the call so another family can find her, as well as closure. Janie's biological siblings try to track down Hannah in revenge because Janie admits she's no longer their little sister.

The Janie Johnson series is a five book series by Caroline B. Cooney (''Literature/LosingChristina'') about a young girl named Janie Johnson who sees her own face on a milk carton and realizes that the people who raised her are not her real parents. In fact, she was stolen from her birth family (the Springs) in early childhood and the Springs want her back. The series follows the young Janie in her attempts to figure out the truth about her origins and decide who she wants to be from now on. Will she remain Janie Johnson, living with the family that is not truly hers, or become Jennie Spring and finally bring peace to the family that birthed her? The first and second book in the series were combined into a MadeForTVMovie in 1995.

* CreepyChild: Young Hannah.

* FieryRedhead: Janie, also her sister, Jodie and their brother.

* ReligionOfEvil: The cult Hannah joins.

* TrilogyCreep: Began as a trilogy then two new books were added to the series.

* NotSoDifferent: This is why the Johnsons want Janie to call the Springs and confirm if she is really Jennie. They say that they know the pain of losing a daughter, and that at least it's better knowing if Hannah committed a kidnapping.

* AdultFear: The whole premise: imagine that your toddler daughter or little sister goes missing at the mall. About a decade later, said girl finds her face on a milk carton, recognizing the dress because it was in her family attic. She drums up the courage to call you, and you realize that her kidnapper lied to her parents about who your daughter was; the minute they find out it's possible she was kidnapped, they encourage her to make the call so another family can find herclosure. Janie's biological siblings try to track down Hannah in revenge because Janie admits she's no longer their little sister.

* SmithicalMarriage: subverted when Janie goes to a hotel with Reeve.

* AllMenArePerverts: Reeve continually tries to imagine ways to convince Janie, who is not ready for sex, to change her mind.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Hannah's backstory started off as an impressionable 16-year girl suffering from white guilt who needed parental permission to join a cult. Later on, it was apparently a college student who felt isolated and far from home. Similarly, her motives for kidnapping Janie seem to change from 'cult mission' to 'loneliness' to 'batshit insane' according to the whims of the author.

* HiddenDepths: Sarah-Charlotte Sherwood first looks to be a silly self-involved wealthy girl in Janie's circle of friends. As the series goes on, Sarah-Charlotte proves to be a true friend to Janie that helps her weather the crisis. In the fifth book she delivers a CrowningMomentOfAwesome when she defends Janie's adoptive parents to the news media doing an update on Janie's story.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Janie wishes that her name wasn't boring, dowdy Janie Johnson. [[Spoiler: She learns that Janie Johnson is not her birth name and begins to wish for it back when she has to get used to being called "Jennie Spring" in ''Whatever Happened to Janie.'']]

* HiddenDepths: Sarah-Charlotte Sherwood first looks to be a silly self-involved wealthy girl in Janie's circle of friends. As the series goes on, Sarah-Charlotte proves to be a true friend to Janie that helps her weather the crisis. In the fifth book she delivers a CrowningMomentOfAwesome when she defends Janie's grandparents to the news media doing an update on Janie's story.

* HiddenDepths: Sarah-Charlotte Sherwood first looks to be a silly self-involved wealthy girl in Janie's circle of friends. As the series goes on, Sarah-Charlotte proves to be a true friend to Janie that helps her weather the crisis. In the fifth book she pulls a CrowningMomentOfAwesome when she defends Janie's grandparents to the news media doing an update on Janie's story.

** In the fifth installment, we see the kidnapping from Hannah's point of view, and the reason seems to be revenge against her parents, and to some extent Janie herself. it also reveals that Hannah has delusional thoughts. It is possible Hannah has been dealing with an untreated mental illness, like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. This would explain why, with the cult acting a catalyst, Hannah transformed from a weird kid to a raving lunatic.

** In the newest installment, we see the kidnapping from Hannah's point of view, and the reason seems to be revenge against her parents, and to some extent Janie herself.
** The newest installment also reveals that Hannah has delusional thoughts. It is possible Hannah has been dealing with an untreated mental illness, like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. This would explain why, with the cult acting a catalyst, Hannah transformed from a weird kid to a raving lunatic.

** The newest installment also reveals that Hannah has delusional thoughts. It is possible Hannah has been dealing with an untreated mental illness, like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. This would explain why, with the cult acting a catalyst, Hannah transformed from a weird kid to a raving lunatic. Her anger at her parents and her "white guilt" might stem from an unhappy childhood trying to tell others how she feels, only to be told she had no reason to be unhappy, because she had such a wonderful life. The main plot might have been averted if her parents had started taking her to a psychologist and getting her mental illness treated when her problems first emerged.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: At least half of the first book could be resolved if Janie could have just Googled herself.