After he bought the milk, he heard a noise (' thummthumm') coming from a silver disc hovering above Marshall Road, and he was sucked up into it. The boy plays on his electronic device while his sister practices violin. Skottie Young's full-spread pen-and-ink drawing depicts the transition from the pristine home when their mother left to the books-and-papers-strewn checkered floor of the kitchen, indicating hours of seemingly endless waiting. So his father heads out to get the milk, and the boy and his younger sister wait. His mother has gone to a conference to present a paper. In Fortunately, the Milk, a boy narrator checks the fridge and finds no milk for his Toastios. Adult Gaiman fans who read Fortunately, the Milk to their children will also notice these themes resonating with his recent adult book The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Milk, despite its much lighter tone, taps into the themes of these novels, traveling to worlds with other beings and the threat of being held captive there. He has an explanation for his absence involving green globby aliens, pirates, dinosaurs and 'Galactic Police.' Is he telling the truth? Or is it a made-up adventure? Young readers will savor the hunt for evidence to support their views in Neil Gaiman's latest middle-grade novel.įortunately, the Milk provides an ideal bridge between the author's picture books (such as The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and The Wolves in the Walls, both illustrated by longtime collaborator Dave McKean) and his more haunting fiction (such as Coraline and the Newbery Medal–winning The Graveyard Book). When the father of two children-a boy and a girl-goes out to buy milk, he takes an inordinately long time.

Unfortunately the milk