Gaiman, Neil.
FORTUNATELY THE MILK
New York : Harper, 2013
IL 3-6, RL 4.2
ISBN 0062224077


(2 booktalks)

Booktalk #1

When mum goes off to a conference, dad’s routine trip to the corner store for milk becomes an epic adventure through time and space! (well, spaceSHIPS, anyway. Well, A spaceship. Twice.)

While fetching milk for his children’s cereal, a father finds himself beamed up by aliens, threatened by pirates (who don’t even know about walking the plank!), meeting the balloon-flying stegosaurus scientist who invented time travel, rather elaborately avoiding a volcanic eruption and also escaping from some very pale, rather hungry-looking (and not at all sparkly) people with funny accents.

Oh, and there’s ponies at one point.

And possibly piranhas.

And hard-hairy-wet-white-crunchers.

Will he ever return to his poor hungry children?

Where there is milk, there is hope!
   (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)

Booktalk #2

Dad took an awfully long time to run to the corner shop to buy milk for the cereal. Despite his children’s suspicions, dad claims that he was definitely not chatting with a friend he met on the street. He says he was held up by an unfortunate adventure involving a stegosaurus, space travel, a hot air balloon, pirates and a near-encounter with the end of the world. Fortunately, thanks to his efforts and dedication, the milk survived the whole ordeal. (Booktalk by Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Committee, 2016)