Gaiman, Neil
Riddell, Chris (illustrator)
Fortunately, the milk
Bloomsbury, 978408841761, £10.99 17th September 2013
Well what is there to say when two such great writers/artists come together? Aimed at the younger reader, this is a real romp. Totally magical, it is all about the power of the imagination, or what lengths fathers will go to when buying milk for the breakfast cereal. It has vampires, pirates, volcanoes and time travelling dinosaurs, which rather covers most of the interests of 6-9 year old boys. Neil Gaiman is one of those authors who is equally at home writing for small children and adults and he writes without condescending to his younger audience
The illustrations by Chris Riddell are a perfect complement and contain his usual subversive humour, even down to the father looking remarkably like Neil Gaiman. It is great to find such an original piece of work for this age group, rather than the formulaic series that are often offered to them. It should be in every school library. I loved this book.
Review copy, with thanks, via Netgalley