Review: Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

Title: Fortunately, the Milk
Author: Neil Gaiman
Publication Date: September 17, 2013
Target Age Group: Middle Grade
My Rating: 5 out of 5

Book Description (from back cover)

Jason When a father run out to buy milk for his childrens' breakfast cereal, the last thing he expects is to be abducted by aliens. He soon finds himself transported through time and space on an extraordinary adventure where the fate of the universe depends on him, a time-traveling Stegosaurus (in a balloon), and, fortunately, the milk.

This is quite possibly the most exciting adventure ever to be written about milk since Tolstoy's epic novel War and Milk. Also it has aliens, pirates, dinosaurs, and wumpires in it (but not the handsome, misunderstood kind), not to mention a Volcano God.


My Review

This is a Book Expo America 2013 book. Many thanks!

I have no clue what I could possibly say that you can't already gather in the description above. This is a purely fun romp and pays homage to all those dads out there who are being heroes to their kids, whether their families believe it or not, and whether they're simply buying milk for their kids' milk or out thwarting aliens bent on taking over our world. *wink wink* 

I love how the story starts out crazy - the dad gets accosted by aliens - and then gets crazier and crazier as the story goes on. I also love how the kids interject throughout the story, trying to call him out, and then he gets creative and adds a new twist into the story. The craziness reminds me of a Douglas Adams story.

I should also mention the illustrator - Skottie Young. I love the illustrations, which capture the fantastical images the dad relates to the kids perfectly. Some of the illustrations have a kind of Dr. Seuss look to them, if Dr. Seuss was haunted by nightmares of aliens, pirates, wumpires, and deadly piranhas. There's actually a seemingly explicit reference to Dr. Seuss in an image of a pony with a star on its side.

There are also a few other fun references in the book. For example, there was a reference to Twilight when the girl in the story asks if the wumpires were "nice, misunderstood" wumpires. Also, there are some fun timey-wimey loops in the story, which seem even funnier when you see that the dad is dressed in what is clearly the 4th doctor's scarf (from Doctor Who, for those who don't know what I'm referring to... is there such a person?).

Oh, and let's not forget the brilliant move of making milk a key plot element in the story!

Very fun book. Check it out!