Fortunately, The Milk
While I was at First Aid Comics last week, I picked up a copy of Fortunately, the milk by Neil Gaiman. He is by far one of my favorite authors and it’s really difficult to pick a favorite author or wrap an author in that category when I supposedly, like my cousin says, “have a book addiction.” In all actuality, she doesn’t know the the half of it. I am one of those people that have been surrounded by books and the quest for knowledge from a very young age. If my parents did anything right, it was to instill in my siblings and I that being illiterate is not an option. I remember reading Shel Silverstein’s ” Where the Sidewalk Ends” over and over and then, as I got older, spending hours and days at the local Library. My brother always wanted to rent the “Rockie and Bulwinkle” tapes, but I got books. This may sound cliché, but by fourth grade I felt that I had read all the good stuff the children’s section of the library had to offer; so naturally, I moved on to adult fantasy, science fiction and paranormal. I didn’t want realistic fiction: my life was real enough. I never read really scary books -the scariest books I completed was about 13 books in the Goosebumps series cause everyone was reading them, but I loved vampires. Sometimes, this took me towards books that were just plain ole creepy, but in this I found my other all time favorite author Anne Rice. So for a while I didn’t even acknowledge children’s book. By the time I made my way back to the children’s section, there was a plethora of reads to add to my list and I dove in thinking to myself, “There weren’t books like this when I wanted them.”
Fortunately, the Milk is one of those books that’s fits right in with Shel Silverstein, Roald Dahl, and Luis Sachar’s Wayside School. It’s pure fun while highlighting the tradition of oral storytelling. Some of the timeless myths and legends we inherit were first told my word of mouth and like Sherherazade, telling stories saved her life. The book is full of illustrations, which makes it a great read for reluctant readers, but laugh out loud pictures that enhance the descriptions. So what is this book about? Basically, a father is left home with his children and despite the mom’s preparations and list of things to do, they run out of milk. The father goes to the cornershop to buy some milk and it gone a very, very, very long time. When he returns, he tells his children the wackiest story of why he was gone the whole time. There’s aliens, time travel, and of course the milk. Simple, straight forward, and with ridiculous twists that are bound to happen when telling a story, Fortunately, the milk will become a staple in anyone’s library that collects children’s books.
Related articles
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman (goodreadswithronna.com)
Shel Silverstein’s Unlikely Rise to Kid Lit Superstardom (mentalfloss.com)
Neil Gaiman to Teach at Bard College in Spring 2014 (tor.com)
