Fortunately, The Milk Review (Kids Sci-Fi)

“I bought the milk,” said my father. “I walked out of the corner shop and heard a noise like this: thummthumm. I looked up and saw a huge silver disc hovering in the air above Marshall Road.”

“Hullo,” I said to myself. “That’s not something you see every day. And then something odd happened.”

Find out just how odd things get in this hilarious story of time travel and breakfast cereal. – Goodreads
Book cover for Fortunately, The Milk

Fortunately, The Milk Review

Let us rejoice! After much searching, I’ve finally found another Neil Gaiman book that I enjoyed. Fortunately, The Milk amused me probably far more than it should have, considering I’m an adult reading a kids’ book. A time-traveling genius stegosaurus (girl power!), snot bubble aliens, jungle savages, and a sentient volcano all combine to make a rip-roaring adventure. There are even ponies!

This improbable tale of time travel that a father spins when he’s a bit delayed getting back from the corner store is perfectly illustrated by Skottie Young. I don’t think Fortunately, The Milk would have had nearly the same amount of charm without Young’s illustrations, actually. The drawings themselves are fun enough that we (yes, I wasn’t reading this one entirely alone) giggled at several of them. There’s some play with the font, too, that adds to the story. It was definitely a great book to read aloud to the seven-year-old as her daddy gave her a manicure.

Action-packed, soaked in silliness, and absurd enough to keep a child’s attention, Fortunately, The Milk is one of the most entertaining books we’ve read in a while. However, considering the talk of sacrifices and violence, it’s not necessarily a book I’d recommend for the littlest of kids. If your little one is too young, feel no shame in picking it up for yourself, though. They’ll be ready for it eventually, and in the meantime you can have a good laugh over a great book.