TEACHERS 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