Fortunately the milk... by Neil Gaiman (illustrated by Chris Riddell)

Gaiman, N. & Riddell, C. (2013). Fortunately, the milk... London. Bloomsbury Publishing

[fantasy / humour]

Neil Gaiman (Wolves in the Walls) and Chris Riddell (Goth Girl) are two of my most favourite children's authors / illustrators.  They have combined in spectacular fashion to produce this hilarious story of a dad who pops out to buy a pint of milk because the family have run out and have nothing to put on their breakfast cereal.   

Not that exciting you may possibly think... but you would be wrong.  Either the dad in this story has a vivid imagination or he lives in one exciting suburb!  While most of us have relatively uneventful trips to the dairy for milk, this dad meets pirates, intergalactic police, aliens and even some rather cutsie-pie (and oddly out of place) horses. 

A sense of humour is vital when reading this story – and funny stories, in my experience, go down well with the 7-12 year old age range.  Even better still, this would appeal to boys, who are often the ones who need the most guidance when it comes to hooking into reading.  As an added bonus, the book is illustrated by Chris Riddell, whose drawings are quirky and fun.  Also, the fact that there are illustrations means that there is less text... and less text is often appealing to readers - whether they be reluctant or someone who wants a less challenging read.  Neil Gaiman needs to write more books like this, as he is a brilliant man (not least because he is a huge advocate of the value of libraries!)