Fortunately, Unfortunately

by Michael Foreman, Michael Forman (Illustrator)

Mom sends Milo on an errand to return Granny's umbrella to her. Fortunately, Milo doesn't realize that he's about to encounter several unfortunate setbacks with pirates, dinosaurs, and aliens. But it all turns into one amazing, fortunate adventure.

Genres: Picture Books, Pirates, Adventure, Childrens, Aliens, Animals, Humor

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2010

About the author

Michael has worked on magazines, book jackets, animated films, TV adverts, and even for the police, sketching criminals described by witnesses. As well as illustrating many of his own books, Michael has illustrated over a hundred books for authors such as Shakespeare, J. M. Barrie, the Brothers Grimm, Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde. Michael has travelled widely - to Africa, Japan, the Arctic Circle, China and Malaysia, the Himalayas, Siberia and New Zealand - to research his books. "I do a lot of research when I'm travelling - I find it thrilling to discover the particular 'art' of different landscapes and work them into a book. But I find I have to travel by myself, otherwise I'm constantly getting involved in other people's impressions of a place... I try to be invisible when I'm travelling, so I tend to listen in on conversations rather than participate in them - I just want to look and draw."

Reviews

[Monica Edinger]

I admit I'm completely biased, but I adore the Remy Charlip book of the same title and concept and this seems just incredibly blah next to it.

[Annie]

I like Remy Charlip's Fortunately

[Amy]

WAY too similar to Remy Charlip's Fortunately. See my full review here: http://sunlitpages.blogspot.com/2012/...

[Heidi-Marie]

The ending made me smile, because this book really could go on forever. Imaginative that I'm sure kids will enjoy. One or two page spreads were a little confusing as to their formatting. It has promise for a preschool or maybe school-age (might be a bit young for them) storytime. I just don't know how I'd work it. Plus, I think I'd get tired of saying "fortunately" and "unfortunately" over and over again. I'd rather have the child read the book on their own. Of course, if they were anything like my brother when he was little, they would start spouting off "fortunately" and "unfortunately" all the time!!

7/6/16 Used in my "U is for..." theme. What a difference 4 years more of doing storytime can make in the appeal of a book. This is a perfect storytime choice! I explained what the two words mean first. Then I just read the book with my general inflections and such. The kids AND adults both LOVED the silliness of the story and how one thing led to another. Even with the ending kind of "hanging,"they were fine with it. And I didn't get tired of saying the two words.

So, original rating may have been 2 stars, but for me it is now more of a 3, and for storytime a 4!

[Emily]

Fun adventure story with repetition. Good for preschool ST.

[Phoebe]

At first I found Foreman’s ludicrous narrative irritating, but as it happens, its ludicrous narrative turns defines it as an excellent read! The reader is transported on a magical adventure rich with entertainment, repetition and silliness. There is a strong theme of resilience throughout the story, as the story flips from fortunately to unfortunately. Clearly this book would be ideal when teaching literary patterns within the classroom. It lends itself well to scaffolded creative writing, which can be accessed by a range of attainment levels. This would be an excellent story-time choice, however would also work well as part of PSHE when discussing the importance of resilience. The story encourages imagination and rich-vocabulary. For those hoping to use this for children of higher age/stage, the cliff-hanger ending lends itself well to further exploratory drama and creative writing.

[Molly Daybert]

This is such a fun, roller coaster of a book. I absolutely loved the insanity of the events, as did my young cousin. When you think of a fun read, this book definitely comes to mind!

As I read this book, I found myself wondering how I could use it in the classroom. This story line is filled with both good (fortunate) and bad (unfortunate) events. In the classroom setting, I think that this would be a great book to read to kids before a writing lesson about patterns in writing. This book has a clear pattern (fortunately.... unfortunately...), as many writing pieces do. The lesson can conclude with students trying to write their own version of Foreman's tale using their own experiences.

Overall, I'm so glad I read this book as it is filled with so much more than what meets the eye.

[Kristin Nelson]

This seems like a rip-off of Remy Charlip's Fortunately, but given the 45 year gap and that this was first published in Great Britain, I can overlook that. The storyline is similar, the illustrations in this one are much brighter, and although this ending was different, I can always get behind a book that lets the reader fill in what might happen next! One complaint: Some of the two page spreads had confusing formatting. I had to read ahead to figure out if I should read across the spread or from top to bottom on each page.

[Julie Buchanan]

When I was a librarian substitute I read this book to classes of 1st-4th graders to teach about resilience when bad things happen. Before reading the book, we discussed what "fortunately" and "unfortunately" meant and what those could mean for what would happen in the book. As we read, we paused to think about what might happen next. At the end of the book, when I asked the students what they learned, at least one always said that when bad things happen good things will happen too. What a great book to teach young minds positive thinking!

[Jennifer]

If told with LOTS of enthusiasm, (and the words fortunately and unfortunately explained before reading), this would get the story time kids laughing. The situations are just silly and crazy. For some reason, the fact that Milo and his mom and grandma are monkeys really bugs me. I think maybe it's because they look more caricature than realistic, I don't know. But, the rest of the illustrations are fun. A solid story time choice.

[raccoon reader]

So we read several in the same vein right in a row (Fortunately. Fortunately, the Milk. and Good News, Bad News) and sort of ranked them. This one was somewhere around 3-4 stars. There's a lot of similarity with Fortunately, the Milk (see Aliens and Pirates and delivery of the umbrella/milk to one's family) so that was weird. But as far as picture books go, it's solid and has funny drawings kids will enjoy.

[Şengül]

Kitap çocuğa olumsuz bir durumun ardından olumlu bir kısmını bulup , neyse ki diye başlayan cümlerle toparlaması için örnek oluyor fakat bir yetişkin olarak okuduğumda yazar, hayal gücünü fazla zorlamış sanki saçmalamış gibi geliyor. Ama kızım seviyor ne diyebilirim ki aramızda 30 küsür yaş farkı var sanırım o seviyeye inemiyorum

[Diane]

On his way to granny's, Milo encounters whales, pirates, & aliens with both fortunate & unfortunate results.

[Orion Kopf]

My mom thought this was a different book she remembered from her childhood but it was a similar idea and very cute.

[Varsha Seshan]

I love this book! Even when I read it out to older children, it's hugely entertaining.

[Jenna Mills]

Ludicrous and hilarious

[Wetdryvac Wetdryvac]

Things immediately out of hand: My favorite kind of fluff.

[Jolynne Dougherty]

A trip to grandma's house to return her umbrella becomes a fantastic adventure replete with good aliens, bad aliens, pirates, a whale and a volcano.

[Deborah Gould]

Events fortunately, and unfortunately, occur as Milo tries to return his Granny's umbrella. A great story and lots of details in the illustrations as well.

[Alana]

I enjoyed it, but I'm pretty sure it's a riff off another book of a similar title I remember from my own childhood, so I can't really give it credit for originality.

[Barbara Lovejoy]

Cute story. The Michael Foreman illustrations are fun.

[Cindi]

Such a cute, fun, story ^_^

[Jennifer]

Fortunately, this is a cute pattern book. Unfortunately, I found it to be a bit juvenile, short and simplistic. I would recommend Remy Charlip's classic Fortunately as an alternative.

[Mary]

Unfortunately, this book was not funny.

[Katie]

A story about cause and effect, full of misfortunes like Fortunately by Remy Charlip.

[Samantha]

This is a story about a little boy, who heads off to grandma's house because she left her umbrella at their house. Along the way the boy meets many different characters and animals. Throughout the story fortunately and unfortunately are used as they boy comes across things in his path.

I read this to a class of 5 year old's and they loved the story, they were joining in with 'fortunately' and 'unfortunately' and really loved the illustrations. At some points I had to go back to the pictures for the children to view for longer!

The journey to grandma is a magical one, going through time zones (such as dinosaurs) and visiting space, traveling on a boat with pirates and even getting lost in a whale!

There was so much to discuss in this story and I felt it really helped the children with their imagination. At the end we discussed the book and the children spoke about their favourite parts, many of them loved the end with the surprise jewels!

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me this book - this has not effected my review in any way.

For more reviews please visit:

Mrsbbooks2011.blogspot.co.uk

[Sarah Hannon]

Personal Reaction - I really liked this book because the story of Milo's adventure to returning an umbrella to his grandmother was intriguing and enjoyable. Each page was full of varying shape of the words printed on the pages as well as a wide variety of color and shape within the illustrations themselves.

Purposes -
-Grade two to four for read aloud for enjoyment.
-This book doesn't have a lot to do with a curriculum lesson plan, so it could be used just for a fun read-aloud or put on a bookshelf for independent reading.
-This really sparks imagination leading Milo from a sidewalk to a whale's mouth, to a pirate ship, to a volcano, to a land of dinosaurs, to an alien spaceship.
This book also ends on a note where the reader could guess for themselves and interpret for themselves what they believe or wish will happen next using great imagination.

[Deanna Vaughn]

This book is about a monkey named Milo who is asked by his mother to return his grandmother's umbrella. It turns out to be quite an adventure to get back to his grandmother's house. The book goes through several twists of fortunate events and unfortunate events from in a whale's belly to up in outer space. The ending of the book is also good because you are not sure what the final outcome is going to be. This would be a good book in the classroom if you were teaching students about changes in events that could alter a story. This could be used to show children how one event could quickly change the outcome of the book. Students could create their own fortunate, unfortunate series with a group or with the whole class.

[Kristen]

Fortunately, my teacher in second grade had a copy of Remy Charlip's "Fortunately" and I got to read it over and over.
Unfortunately, the only copy I now have access to is a beat-up old paperback copy.
Fortunately, our library just bought "Fortunately, Unfortunately" by Michael Foreman.
Unfortunately, it isn't as good as Remy Charlip's book.
Fortunately, I can still read both versions to my writing class to contrast and compare, and then write a round-robin book as an opening writing exercise.

Also use with "The Day Louis Got Eaten" for similar, simpler idea.

[Jill]

My son read this and handed it to me saying, "you should read this. Right now."

So I did. And he was right.

A young monkey is tasked with returning an umbrella to his grandmother, fortunately things often work out, unfortunately they often have a twist. And pirates.

Fortunately, it's a great tale. Unfortunately I already borrowed it from the library so you'll have to wait for me to return it. Fortunately the library in your town probably has a waiting list. Unfortunately I don't know how to tell you to use it. Fortunately, you're smart.