Fortunately, the Milk . . .: Neil Gaiman

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There was something very good about this book. It was an ‘enhanced edition’ which means that the writer reads the book out loud to you while you read it! This writer is a good reader and he didn’t sound at all like the dalek voice that normally comes out of the Kindle. Mum said I could stay on the iPad if I wanted to draw a picture of the writer reading the book. But I can’t draw good faces so I drew a picture of the Kindle talking. Then I labeled it ‘Kindle’ because Mum asked what it was. 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? His two kids are pretty dubious but willing to go along with it for the most part ("Hang on. Piranhas are a freshwater fish. What are they doing in the sea?"). And occasionally they have requests for ponies or "handsome, misunderstood wumpires" to be in the story.

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. Hullo," I said to myself. "That's not something you see every day. And then something odd happened."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 My favourite scene in book was when the Father met the king of Volcanos. Hahaha.... really enjoyed that scene.

If you don't get it, please do some memory tests, since you have to get it, you just read it less than hour ago! I think this is a very good book and it deserves 5 stars, which I have drawn here (because it meant I could stay on the iPad for longer. :) )No matter how much other characters assist your heroes, ultimately, they must find their own way. This is true in Fortunately, the Milk, when the father must save himself, and it's also true for Bod in The Graveyard Book, for the heroine of Coraline, and for the boy hero of Ocean. Why is that important to you as an author? Regardless, it is a delightful read. Especially for children. But it was a fun read for me also. I will must read his other works too. 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 Year I grew up with a father who tended to invent things and know things and talk about things and could absolutely have gone off into the kind of flight of fancy in Fortunately, the Milk. And my daughter, Maddie, when she read Fortunately, the Milk recently, said that when she got to the end, all she could think was that it sounded exactly like me. So, I think Fortunately is just very, very me. I'm not sure about in Ocean. It's left ambiguous whether the father is actually under the control of Ursula Monkton or not, and it would be worse if he wasn't. 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.

It's a fun children's or early middle-grade story, and the illustrations absolutely make it. This would be a great read-aloud book for kids who like wildly imaginative adventures. I'm not even sure what my process is and I've been doing this for 30 years. Normally, at some point, I will pull open a notebook and I will start writing stuff and that's always the beginning of the process. At the end of the day, if you're writing something that's novel length or is probably likely to turn into novel length, the process is going to consist of faffing around in the morning, getting your exercise done, maybe eating a light lunch and then going somewhere that you won't be disturbed, opening a notebook and writing. And, wherever that place is, that's going to be the process. It's going to be putting down the words.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. I returned to the bus-stop which which was covered, unfortunately the covering did not seem to be designed to keep the rain off, rather to concentrate the droplets and deposit them upon the head of a waiting passenger. I was soon joined by another hopeful passenger, an old lady who smelt of wet cardboard and boiled sweets.