Sometimes books just fall through the gaps in our review schedule, to nestle unread beneath the mire and dust deep in the gutter of our blog's overspill bin.

Well, that's not actually what happened with "Fortunately, The Milk" by genius author Neil Gaiman and equally genius illustrator Chris Riddell (or fantastic artist Skottie Young if you're a US reader!). You see there we were, back in 2013, all geared up to review the very socks off this fantastic book. We waited and waited, we wrote about it lots, full of anticip..........ation and joy.

But the review copy never turned up. Now, I'm not going to have a go at Bloomsbury here as they do send us lovely things to review (though only 'propah' journalists get their middle grade / Harry Potter stuff).

This one really fell through the cracks, and after recently hearing many Twitter folk describing it as a brilliant example of a time travel story for middle graders, I thought I'd just better go and flippin' well buy a copy 6 years late.

So, was it worth the wait? Here's a thing. Sometimes when you've wanted to read something for ages, you can get so over-hyped about a book that when it finally arrives it can't possibly measure up to the hype. Thus was the case with "Fortunately, the Milk" which started out OK, but took a good few re-readings before I finally "got" it.

It's the story of an ordinary family. A mum, a dad, a couple of kids. As is the norm with children's books the mum is a hyper-powered corporate suit-wearing superhero who is nipping off to a conference, leaving the slightly hopeless but well-meaning dad behind to look after the kids.

She leaves behind a long list of chores for the dad - but chief amongst them is to go and get some more milk, after all no one wants to eat cornflakes with tomato ketchup on them do they? (C: I would!)

Unfortunately,  the milk. Yes, as you'd probably have guessed, Dad forgets to buy any but the next morning, before breakfast, he nips out to the corner shop to obtain the revered cow-juice. 

US Cover (and slightly different name) for Neil Gaiman's marvellous "Fortunately, The Milk"

Ooh we're in a pickle. We really don't know which one we like best - but as Neil Gaiman puts it on his blog, he seems to have not one but TWO books coming out in September.

"Fortunately, the Milk" will be arriving stateside on September the 17th with artwork by the utterly brilliant Skottie Young.

Of course the UK does not miss out, we get this...

"Fortunately, The Milk..." with illustrations by Chris Riddell

Either way you're in for a bit of a treat. We've seen the Netgalley versions of the UK edition and Chris's illustrations are utterly wonderful. But we don't like to miss out, we really do want both so we'll have to pull in a few favours from our friends across the pond and try and make it happen.

"Fortunately, the Milk..."will be arriving on UK and Australian shores on - yes you've guessed it - September 17th!

Pick up a pinta or two and mark that date in your calendar. It's going to be awesome.

We're massive Neil Gaiman fans here at ReadItDaddy (as you can probably tell from our recent reviews of "Crazy Hair" and our constant references to the genius that is "Coraline".

So hearing that the man with the crazy hair (well, he HAS got crazy hair!) is behind a new children's book is exciting news.

"Fortunately, The Milk" written by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Chris Riddell, is coming from Bloomsbury very soon indeed. Weaving a tale of time travel, dinosaurs and...well, a bottle of red top - it's inherently the sort of thing we love Mr Gaiman for.

Don't just take our word for it though, listen to the man himself talking about the book over at Sci Fi magazine SFX's website. 

Neil Gaiman on "Fortunately, The Milk"


(Edit: The cover image previously included in this post was for the US edition, which will be illustrated by Skottie Young - Chris Riddell is illustrating the UK version - kthanks)

Many of the folk fetching up in our #Booky100Keepers list are folk who can enviously wear both author and illustrator hats equally well, fantastically in fact.

Chris Riddell's books - whether he's illustrating his own writing, or helping otherwise godawful books lift themselves up a notch by providing illustrative genius - have been a mainstay of our "Book of the Week" slots since we started out back in 2010.

But it was the "Goth Girl" series that really caught C's eye - first read with me reading them aloud to her, then solo read on her own, the distinct cleverness of Riddell's drawing-in of pop culture figures fused with his glorious ink illustrations, coupled with the whole idea of producing gothic novels for middle grade, was just a huge huge lure.

Ada Goth lives with her eccentric father, Lord Goth in a rambling mansion with the most curious gardens. Riddell expertly draws us into the story of Ada and her ghostly companion, a tiny mouse named Ishmael, and the strange goings-on around Goth Manor. There's something deliciously dark about these books, drawing in influences as diverse as Frances Hodgson Burnett and Diana Wynne Jones, but underpinned beautifully by Chris's drawings (and of course his wonderful end-paper maps of Ada's amazing home).

The series goes from strength to strength, in fact they just get funnier as they go along - particularly for adults who will appreciate some of the humour that sails completely over their kids' heads.

Of course Chris is equally at home illustrating amazing books by other authors, including "The Sleeper and the Spindle" - a collaboration with Neil Gaiman, who needs no introduction at all - as one of the primary figures in fantasy fiction, and a god amongst men when it comes to spinning up amazing stories.

This one is more of a grown up fairy tale, a response to the rather antiquated views of the handsome prince rushing to save the sleeping princess from a thousand year snooze.

Woven with Chris's talent for drawing gorgeous fantasy bookscapes, but with a thoroughly modern and bang-up-to-the-minute exploration of what loves means, regardless of gender, this one is probably one to keep for when your kids are a bit older.

It's mesmerisingly good stuff though.



Chris has even managed to salvage an utter wreck of a celebrity book from being completely disastrous. Russell Brand's Trickster Tales was obviously meant to spin out into a story series, but the first book arrived to a deafeningly ambivalent reaction from the book-buying public.

That said, the best thing about "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" is the inventive way Chris draws up the characters from this rather self indulgent version of the classic fairy tale, proof positive that he can turn even a dog's breakfast into a book of the week.

Following Chris on Twitter is a joy - when he's tweeting about various book-type things or having a go at our dreadful government, his enviable talent shines through.

God I'd love to be able to draw like him.


Original Review Links: 

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell (Bloomsbury)

Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell (Macmillan Children's Books)

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 7th November 2014 - "Russell Brand's Trickster Tales - The Pied Piper of Hamelin" by Russell Brand and Chris Riddell (Canongate Books)

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 23rd January 2015 - "Goth Girl - A Fete Worse than Death" by Chris Riddell (HarperCollins Children's Books)

Something Else by Kathryn Cave and Chris Riddell (Picture Puffin)

ReadItDaddy's Chapter Book of the Week - Week Ending 11th October 2019: "Guardians of Magic (The Cloud Horse Chronicles Book1)" by Chris Riddell (Macmillan Children's Books)

"A Kid in my Class" by Rachel Rooney and Chris Riddell (Otter-Barry Books)

A Great Big Cuddle - Poems for the Very Young by Michael Rosen, Illustrated by Chris Riddell (Walker Books)

"Fortunately the Milk" by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell / Skottie Young (Bloomsbury Publishing)

ReadItDaddy's Chapter Book of the Week - Week Ending 3rd August 2018: "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell (Bloomsbury Children's Books)

Coming on September 17th from Bloomsbury Publishing, Neil Gaiman's new children's book "Fortunately, The Milk" is going to be spectacularly huge, take our word for it.

Here, Neil gives you a tasty lactose-tolerant glimpse into what spurred him to write a children's book celebrating dads (hooray) and letting dads take centre stage in a heroic chase across time and space to grab a couple of pints of the fresh white stuff.

We've been lucky enough to see a preview of the UK version (with utterly brilliant illustrations by Chris Riddell, including one or two awesome cameos - not least of all the main character himself who looks a little familiar, shall we say?