Fortunately, The Milk is the fourth book for young readers by British author, Neil Gaiman. Mum’s away, Dad’s in charge and there’s no milk for breakfast. Dad pops down to the corner shop to get some, but seems to take forever to get back. He explains to his sceptical son and daughter just what took him so long.

The back cover blurb of this book claims that no Green Globby Aliens, no Pirates, no Angry Volcano Gods demanding human sacrifice, no Intergalactic Police, and no Hot Air Balloon piloted by an accomplished Stegosaurus feature, but, while not wishing to include a spoiler, this is patently false. All these things, and many more, do appear in the pages of this book. Gaiman delights young (and maybe not-so-young) readers with a brilliantly inventive plot while Chris Riddell enhances the text with lots of marvellous illustrations. A fun read.

It's only a short story, but Gaiman manages to fit sooooooooo many silly, weird, funny, bizarre and creative events, characters, scientific(?) inventions in that by the time you've finished (maybe an hour? possibly longer if you're reading it to your kids) you feel you have covered all of time, space, and possibility.



Add to Gaiman's zany tale the fabulous illustrations of Chris Riddell, and you have the perfect book to share with your kids. Or for them to share with you.



And dads? When you next tell tall tales, you're going to have to lift your game.