Monday 9 September 2013

Fortunately The Milk by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Chris Riddell

17758805
There was only orange juice in the fridge. Nothing else that you could put on your cereal, unless you think that ketchup or mayonnaise or pickle juice would be nice on your Toastios, which I did not. and neither does my little sister, although, she has eaten some pretty weird things in her day, like mushrooms in chocolate.
Pages – 160
To be published by Bloomsbury on 17th September 2013
You know what it’s like when your mum goes away on a business trip and Dad’s in charge. She leaves a really, really long list of what he’s got to do. And the most important thing is DON’T FORGET TO GET THE MILK. Unfortunately, Dad forgets. So the next morning, before breakfast, he has to go to the corner shop, and this is the story of why it takes him a very, very long time to get back.
Featuring: Professor Steg (a time-travelling dinosaur), some green globby things, the Queen of the Pirates, the famed jewel that is the Eye of Splod, some wumpires, and a perfectly normal but very important carton of milk.
*****
What a delightful nutty book! Yet again, Neil Gaiman makes it look easy as he switches from writing for adults to children with a flick of his pen.
The tale is one of those tall stories you would expect to hear from someone deliberately trying to cover their tracks when they’ve got a bit way laid. However in this book, the children are just a tad sceptical of their father’s tale, which unfortunately is the way modern children are. When I was a child, I would have stared wide eyed at my father in complete belief of his story, where as kids today see through it straight away. The story reminded me of a scene in Miracle On 34th Street, right at the end, where you are all desperate to believe in Santa Claus – well Neil Gaiman had me wanting to believe this story was totally real!
This book is quite quick to read – I finished it within the hour and found myself going back to read it all over again as I enjoyed it so much.
I loved the wumpires! The world NEEDS MORE WUMPIRES! They had me sniggering with delight.
You can’t review this book without mentioning the awesome illustrations by Chris Riddell, who has created an uncanny likeness in his character to Neil Gaiman…
This book is wacky, wild, weird and delightful Dahlesque!

1 comment:

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