The National Year of Reading 2026 is a UK-wide campaign that encourages people of all ages to rediscover reading for pleasure. The campaign’s central message – “Go All In: If you’re into it, read into it” – invites readers to see reading as something that taps into all kinds of interests, from hobbies and passions to daily routines and simple pleasures.
To celebrate the event, we thought it would be fun to explore how one of our greatest passions – milk – has been chronicled in books through the decades, and perhaps inspire you to pick up something new!
Children’s Books
The Milkman, by Carol Foskett Cordsen
Publisher: Puffin
This rhyming picture book follows a friendly milkman and his sleepy cat on their morning round. Illustrated by Douglas B. Jones, the story is simple, warm and full of small, thoughtful details, ending with a happy reunion when the milkman helps reunite a lost dog with its owner.
We can’t promise every Plumbs’ delivery comes with a rescue mission, but we do like to think we’d always go the extra mile!
Read more on Good Reads
Milkman Mike by Chris Berry
Publisher: Great Northern Books
The Milkman Mike series by Chris Berry follows Milkman Mike and his “big daft dog” Spike as they make their morning deliveries around the village of Dairyville. Each story brings a gentle, funny adventure to the milk round, with bright illustrations and simple, playful text that’s perfect for young readers.
After 70+ years of delivering milk, we can testify even ordinary mornings can turn into a story – especially when dogs are involved!
Read more on Great Northern Books
Adult non-Fiction
The British Milkman by Tom Phelps
Publisher: Shire Publications
A compact, illustrated look at the history of milk delivery in the UK, written by Tom Phelps – a keen historian with more than thirty years’ experience working in the dairy industry. Packed with photographs and social history, it traces how the trade evolved from churns and horse-drawn carts to modern delivery vans. If you enjoy this, you might also want to check out Britain’s Wartime Milkmen, charting how Britain’s milkmen played a key role in the nation’s morale through the Great War and into the Second World War.
Read more on Bloomsbury.com
No Milk Today: The Vanishing World of the Milkman by Andrew Ward
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
This is a richly researched collection of tales from milkmen’s daily lives, drawing on more than 30 years of interviews, anecdotes and archival material. It shines a light on the people who have made the milk round part of everyday life and community life in Britain – from early starts and doorstep chats to unexpected encounters along the way. It’s a powerful reminder that milk delivery has always been about people, relationships and trust – not just pints on doorsteps.
Read more on Little, Brown Book Group
Poetry Corner
The Milkman by Christopher Morley
Written in the early 20th century, this short poem captures the calm, dependable presence of the milkman as part of everyday life – a small but reassuring constant in an ever changing world.
(extract)
Early in the morning, when the dawn is on the roofs,
You hear his wheels come rolling, you hear his horse’s hoofs;
You hear the bottles clinking, and then he drives away:
You yawn in bed, turn over, and begin another day!
Whether you’re reading to your children at bedtime or picking up a book with your morning coffee, the National Year of Reading is a reminder that even the most familiar things – like a bottle of milk on the doorstep – have stories worth exploring.