September 12, 2023 by Walker Books US
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
The Two-Headed Chicken is back, and ready to travel in time. Using the AstroCap, they travel back into the Timestream (also referred to as "Tammy") to visit prehistory. They have been warned about the Butterfly Effect, but tell a knock knock joke when they travel back in time, therefore changing the world. They are now a duckter cuckoo, and spend a great deal of time trying to change the world and get back to the way they were. The AstroCap's 45 second charging time makes for some narrow escapes as they encounter some of their old nemeses, including Kernel Antler (who looks like a crocodile). They also get stuck in a time loop (or do they?), meet Emily Dickinson and Sherlock Holmes, enter a role playing game called The Magical Gathering of Dragons in Dungeons, and even fight book banners! Eventually, they are restored to their original incarnations, and use a book of poetry to inspire a young artist named Tom Anklebarker, or something like that, to create a comic book with a two-headed chicken in it.
Like the first book in the series, this is a frenetic goof fest of crazy adventures and silly conflicts, illustrated in a hyperactive style. There are close up photographs of brocolli to illustrate the time stream, Victorian clip art and sepia toned pages with information about Bangerter's Marvelous Time Cap, and a lot of brightly colored comic style illustrations that are heavy on bright blue, purple, red and yellow.
I especially appreciated the fact that on one of the activity pages, it is mentioned that if the reader has a library book, there are printable pages at https://twoheadedchicken.wordpress.com.
Not surprisingly, Angleberger gives a shout out to Daniel Pinkwater's work like the 1982 The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, and this certainly embraces that stream of conscious style, replete with random characters, sight gags, and self referential jokes. This graphic novel would definitely be a good way to warm up younger readers for eventually picking up Pinkwater's 2007 The Neddiad: How Neddie Took the Train, Went to Hollywood, and Saved Civilization (Neddie & Friends, #1).
Readers who love Dav Pilkey's work or Green's Investigators will appreciate the frenzied art and nonstop jokes as the Two-Headed Chicken travels through the chronoverse getting into trouble. Things work out in the end, but who knows when further opportunities to POOOOOZB might occur!
August 8, 2023 by Penguin Workshop
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
Finder is a frog in second grade who idolizes the detective Seymour Warts. Her best friends are a beaver, Chopper, and a turtle, Keeper. They all hang out together at the bog, but one morning they all wake up to find everyone GONE! They start their investigation with Big Al, an owl of whom they are all afraid. They know that since he is nocturnal, he might have seen something, and he gives them a hint: he saw headlights in the middle of the night. The trio also finds a carving on Al's tree, C.R.O.A.K., which stands for the Committe to Restore Order to the Animal Kingdom. The group believes in segregating animals, sort of like a zoo. They kidnap animals, lock them up, and leave a mysterious calling card. Their leader is the Zookeeper. Finder locates several clues, including a feather coated in goo, and a link to the Tickled Pink drink corporation. After meeting a variety of quirky characters, voyaging into suspicious basements, and having some fun during stake outs, will Finder and her friends be able to locate the denizens of the bog before it is too late?
This graphic novel is full of adventure and goofy hijinks. This has a whiff of film noir to it, especially when Seymour Warts, in his Sherlock Holmes' deerstalker cap comes on the scene. Finder is committed to solving the mystery, and her friends are along for the ride, even if they are not as serious as she is. There are lots of quirky supporting characters, like a mustachioed kangaroo covered in tattooes, Snapper, a local investigator who is a lizard of some sort, and Old-Lady Goose Liver.
The colors are very bright, but with a darker palette suitable to the mysterious content. The outlines of the characters are in very thick black lines. I love how the illustrator can convey so much emotion even though the eyes are just dots! My one quibble is that the text is very wordy and in very small font. This makes it more of a middle grade novel, so I wish that Finder had been older than second grade.
Green's Investigators, Kochalka's Banana Fox series, Eaton's Flying Beaver Brothers, Braddock's Stinky Cecil, and, of course, Blabey's hilarious Bad Guys books.
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