CRANKOSAURUS

A crabby chicken and her worm BFF achieve friendship goals.

Crowds, trampolines, baths, skipping a nap—there’s plenty that makes Chicken cranky. But “tiny and tickly” Speedy Worm makes Cranky Chicken actively “un-cranky.” Libraries also make Chicken happy, even though “Crankiness is allowed” there. Honestly, Speedy and Chicken are such great friends that dour-looking, unibrowed Chicken spends most of the book looking pretty upbeat. In one story, Speedy and Chicken have different ideas about how to take a nap, but they’re still best friends. In another, Speedy has an existential crisis (are they really a worm, or could they be a cobra, a giraffe, or a brontosaurus?), but the duo’s friendship reigns supreme—indeed, they are “Best Feathered Family forever.” All the while, they help each other learn. Speedy asks Chicken how she knows she’s a hen and not a rooster, and—unibrow thoughtfully cocked up—Chicken explains it’s because she just feels like a hen. Simple shapes and linework bring to life a wonderfully expressive pair in this sweetly silly graphic novel. Chapters are separated by funny vignettes; one especially hilarious page finds Chicken and Speedy in costumes—Chicken as Princess Leia with Speedy as Yoda; Chicken as a worm and Speedy as a chicken; and both dressed as “Stripy Lost Guy” in Where’s Waldo–style red-and-white tops and beanies.

Cuddly, funny comics will charm the crankiest of readers.