BAWK TO THE FUTURE

Funky chickens futz with the universe.

One night, while giving chickens Nugget and Tenders their Super-Big Serum, slightly mad scientist Dr. Dipping-Sauce accidentally administers a Super-Smart Serum instead. Suddenly conscious, the pair escape their cage to explore the Super-Secret Lab. They discover that the doctor is in league with Big Chicken to create a “mindless edible chicken army”; soon after, they happen upon the Time-Travel Lab and are transported to the late Cretaceous. Their guide to the past is a Triceratops who’s on the run from a hungry T. rex. Broad-chested, bighearted Tenders wants to return home to save the chicks still in captivity at the Super-Secret Lab, but savvy Nugget realizes their time-travel craft might allow them to alter history in chickenkind’s favor (“We went from king of the dinosaurs…to dino nuggies”). Between these feisty fowls, dinos, info on the arc of avian evolution, and Dr. Dipping-Sauce’s self-assembled Super Suction Time Toilet, there’s more than enough here to make one’s head spin. Young readers hungry for humor will giggle at sight gags and revel in the duo’s absurd escapades. Windness’ illustrations play an essential role: The adorable animal heroes clash visually with a handful of off-kilter humans of various skin tones, and the bold red of the chickens’ beaks, wattles, and combs adds a dramatic dash of color to detailed grayscale cartooning.

A whirlwind of weirdness that portends more peculiar fun in series installments to come.