June children's bookclub choice: Fortunately The Milk by Neil Gaiman - apply for free copy!

[RachelMumsnet]

Neil Gaiman was recently described by the Sunday Times as 'the nearest thing children's books have to a Rock Star' and 2 million twitter followers are proof of his cult status. Fortunately the Milk... is a departure from many of his darker more macabre children's stories (think Coraline, The Graveyard book) but equally as fantastical and inventive.

A dad who nips out to buy a pint of milk is delayed by, among other things, dinosaurs, time travel and 'green globby things'. With superbly anarchic illustrations from Chris Riddell, this is perfect bedtime reading for children aged 8 + as well as Gaiman-fan parents (a great gift for Father's Day).

See Neil Gaiman reading an extract and if you fancy reading this with your Dcs apply for one of 50 free copies.

Everyone who accesses a free copy will be asked to post a review, join the discussion on this thread and/or tweet about the book using #Mumsnetbookclub.

We were very excited to receive our copy. I started reading this aloud to my 7-year old daughter but after I put her to bed she finished reading the book by herself and the next night gave me a resume of what I'd missed! Needless to say she loved it - she found it very adventurous and enjoyed not knowing what was going to happen next. I thought the story had the imagination and adventure of a picture book that can be missing from a longer book that necessarily needs to be filled out with more narrative.

Hi, thanks for our copy. My DS, age 7, loved it, read it very fluently. He found it funny and he liked the imaginative story. I found it myself a bit boring the the humor quite simple.

I also printed the activity pages from Mumsnet and DS loved that as well. Thanks a lot

DS(8) loved this book. I have trouble finding fiction books he wants to read, but the illustrations lured him in and he enjoyed every minute of it. But who can resist a time travelling dinosaur?

DD (aged 8) liked this book and wanted to write her own review:

I thought this was a good book because it is sort of adventurous. I liked reading about when the dad goes out to buy some milk I was interested in when he met the pirates and the aliens. I liked reading about when the dad met Professor Steg in his hot air balloon, I also liked reading about when the dad met some vampires.

Phew!!! ... have finally read the books piled with the mail when I returned from my trip abroad. Many, many thanks to Mumsnet.com for the opportunity to read and appraise this book.

--> Review has been posted!!!

:)