Fortunately, the Milk . . .: Neil Gaiman

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I wanted chapters of characters and development, I wanted descriptions of far away lands. I wanted Alice Through the Looking Glass with a dash of Phantom Tollbooth....

Families can talk about whether mothers and fathers have different ideas about parenting. Why do they consider some household chores very important and others less so? Neil Gaiman’s latest book, “Fortunately The Milk” is a boisterous tale of an extraordinary adventure, time travel and milk. Gaiman’s is full of surprises, jokes and an awful lot of just being plain silly. If you can’t tell already, I loved this book. A self-referential gem ... Both author and illustrator are craftsmen at the top of their game, making it look easy' Sunday Times, Children's Book of the YearMaybe what I wanted from this story was more development, maybe (like everything with Gaiman) I have this grand idea of what he "should" write, I can't appreciate what he actually writes. Good thing that I never skip that, like in the movies, that if you are too eager to leave the theater and you can miss a final scene. (I wonder what all those people do, rushing out once the credits started to roll. Do they find a cure to the cancer? Solving the world hunger? Getting world peace? Nope, I don't think so, since we still have all those troubles) I think I should try and pay more attention to my creative process because I'm genuinely not sure at which point I decided I was going to write a riposte to The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and it would be called Fortunately, the Milk and it would be about dads. But I do think that the years of looking at The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and going, "this is not--and it's not even not positive--it's not a good thing for parents," and "I should do something which at least shows the other side of the coin." I suspect that sitting in my head for many years was the starting point. In Ocean, you never name the boy-man narrator. Yet the importance of naming is essential to the plot. Why didn't you give him a name? Is he Everyman? (In the same way that Bod is Nobody?) The children and their parents get no names in Fortunately, the Milk, either. Coincidence?

I was bored, so Mum let me borrow her Kindle to read a book that was making her laugh, called, ‘Fortunately, the Milk…’ by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Chris Riddell. I noticed that it had brilliant pictures in it – even on the Kindle! – and Mum said I could go on the iPad if I wanted to draw a front cover for the book. I did. Look… Gaiman and Young are a wonderful team where the words of Neil make a perfect amalgam to the drawings of Scottie. My favorite part was when it is revealed that Dad, in a sneaky Keyser Söze-like move, has gleaned all his inspiration from items in the kitchen. Probably my own personal belief that I don't get to see everything going on all the time. And the more you study anything, the more you realize there are huge unseen worlds going on at any point, whether you're reading books about quantum physics, where you learn that actually, more or less, we are all a bunch of hypothetical particles with an awful lot of space between us, or whether it's studying Henry Mayhew and London labor and the London poor and realizing all of these strange, secret worlds that would've been completely invisible to somebody navigating the streets of London. All worlds are 50% unseen.It may be the middle of the summer holidays, but our minds are on World Book Day (7 months and counting!). If you’re short of something to read this summer, head to our World Book Day 2020 book list for inspiration. Over the summer months we have been sharing some of our favourite activities to go alongside our Story Explorer book selection. We are sure that our book in focus this week will make you laugh out loud no matter what your age… Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman You also play with the idea of parallel worlds in both serious and whimsical ways--two milk containers from different time periods for the father in Fortunately, the Milk; in Coraline, there's the mirror button-eye family and the real family; in Ocean, there's the ancient world that the boy narrator is privy to, and the real world that only his family sees. What attracts you to this interplay between seen and unseen worlds? I think because for me the challenge as an author is in making somebody believable and letting them find their own way through things. I love though that in Fortunately, the Milk when the father does actually save himself and, quite possibly, the universe, all anybody is really impressed with is the milk, and they fail to notice it's him. Prava, pravcata dečija knjiga. Ako niste u stanju da se vratite u najbezbrižnije godine svog detinjstva, onda čitajte ovu knjižicu na ličnu odgovornost. Overall, this is a non-stop, fast-paced, crazy adventure that’s fun to get lost in. If you’re a fan of Neil Gaiman or even Roald Dahl stories, give this one a try.

With his wife away at a conference, the father in Fortunately, the Milk doesn't do the best job of housekeeping, but he does keep his promise to fetch milk for his children's breakfast cereal. Even under the most outlandish circumstances, he proves to be clever, resourceful, and, above all, fond of his kids. Find out just how odd things get in this hilarious New York Timesbestselling story of time travel and breakfast cereal, expertly told by Newbery Medalist and bestselling author Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Skottie Young

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This is such a charming story. Although the book is recommended for ages 7-9, this is a story for all ages and one that parents can enjoy reading right along with their kids. Younger readers will appreciate the neat time travel element and amusing characters like Professor Steg. There are references to well-known literature woven into the story, which is appealing for adults. To me, what makes the book so fun is the juxtaposition of the dad's ridiculous story and the reality as the kids begin to question how legit these events even are. The dad’s nonsensical story is hilarious, while the family story is real and relatable. My five children have a socialite for a dad, and we’ve found ourselves in this situation many times before!

For such a decidedly whimsical book, it was unexpectedly fabulous. Two kids are left home alone with dad for a weekend while scientist-mom is at a conference (unexpectedly great reason for mom to be gone for the week!). Only, when it comes time for breakfast...the kids discover that there's no milk for their cereal. Fortunately this smirk had a half-life of about one and a half seconds. The loss of smirk corresponded to the rise in volume of clanking footfalls. Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century. That is the point of this story, the “what if?” Absurdly fun to read for both adults and kids. Don’t miss it.Oh, absolutely. One hundred percent. My safest places were libraries, manned or unmanned by librarians. My teachers were books. They taught me to look out through other people's eyes, which is the most important thing that anything like that can do.