An interview about the Two-Headed Chicken series by Tom Angleberger, presented by The Children’s Book Review.
Tom Angleberger joins us to share the madcap fun behind Two-Headed Chicken: Chaos in the Cosmic Library, the third book in this graphic novel series that turns storytelling upside down.
With boundless humor, Tom Angleberger pushes storytelling into wonderfully unpredictable territory. In Two-Headed Chicken: Chaos in the Cosmic Library, he loops readers through a multiverse of parodies, interactive puzzles, and fourth-wall-shattering fun, proving that anything—and everything—goes.
In our conversation, Angleberger reflects on the freedom of writing without boundaries, the delight of skewering beloved classics, and why Kernel Antlers may be his most ridiculous villain yet. What emerges is not just a romp through cosmic chaos, but a celebration of creativity, comedy, and connection with young readers.
For readers just discovering the series with Book 3, Chaos in the Cosmic Library, would you recommend starting with Book 1, or can they jump right into the cosmic chaos of Book 3?
Tom Angleberger (TA): Jump right in! The books actually form a time loop, so you can start reading anywhere and eventually you’ll get back to where you started. But you’ll be a better, wiser person for having made the journey. (Or maybe a better, wiser chicken.)
Your Two-Headed Chicken series breaks the fourth wall in such creative ways. In Book 3, the character actually escapes into the Cosmic Library when the reader slams the book shut. What inspired this meta-fictional approach to storytelling?
(TA): I love writing books about Star Wars and other licensed properties, but there are a lot of rules to follow. (That’s an enjoyable part of the challenge, actually.) However, I really wanted to try something with NO rules. A world (or multiverse) where everything goes.
The Cosmic Library contains “every book ever written,” and Two-Headed Chicken hops through familiar titles from a hundred-acre wood to a kissy vampire novel. How did you choose which literary worlds to parody, and what was the most fun scene to write?
(TA): Charlotte’s Web of Lies was the most fun to write and the punchline for that section may be my favorite thing I’ve ever written. It’s so very, very wrong.
Of course, I also wanted to romp through the books that my readers love, too. Wimpy Kid, Dogman, Smile, The Crossover. These are all loving parodies, but I was a little mean to one book: Origami Yoda. But that author really had it coming!
Kernel Antlers, the chicken-hungry moose, returns as the antagonist pursuing your hero through these literary landscapes. What makes a good villain for this kind of zany, multiverse-hopping adventure?
(TA): Kernel Antlers is so full of outrage, fury and desire for fried chicken, but he looks so ridiculous. The green fur, long legs, the jacket and tie, the dewlap.
And this book lets me mash all of that up with a beloved character like Winnie the Pooh. I’m having a ball.
Your books are packed with interactive elements—puzzles, games, drawing activities—and you’ve chosen the graphic novel format for this experimental storytelling. What makes this medium so perfect for creating active reader participation and boundary-pushing stories for young readers?
(TA): It goes back to the “everything goes” idea. Why NOT shove a game in there? Why not have a maze?
Also, with a graphic novel, sometimes kids (and me, too) race through the pages to get the story. I wanted to have plenty of stuff in the book for them to do or come back to.
This is a deep dive, but when I was a kid I had a book called The Adventures of the Black Hand Gang by Hans Jurgen Press. The reader had to really study and think about the pictures to solve the mysteries. One of the best kids’ books ever made, in my opinion. I can’t draw as well as Press, but I still wanted to reward kids who were willing to slow down and look closely.
Having been a Star Wars fan since 1977, how has your love of science fiction and fantasy influenced the multiverse concept in Two-Headed Chicken?
(TA): So not only was I a fan of Star Wars, I was also a fan of the Star Wars joke books that Will Eisner and others put out in the late 70s. An example of these is that immortal classic, Star Jaws.
But to turn a joke book like that into a story, it really helps to have a device like a multiverse-hopping helmet so you can just bzoop from joke to joke, without a bunch of boring exposition.
Luckily for me, various multiverse movies came along and suddenly this weird sci-fi concept was a household word.
With each book, your Two-Headed Chicken keeps escalating the chaos. Where do you see this series going next? Are there any caps or universes you’re dying to explore?
(TA): I think I may have poured it all into this book! I got to do everything I wanted to do and I am so grateful to my editor, Susan Van Metre, and my publisher, Candlewick, for giving me the chance to do it. It’s been a wild ride through the multiverse and now I’m ready to chill out and draw some… rampaging, poetry-loving dinosaurs!
Working with your wife, Cece Bell, who’s also an author and illustrator, what’s the creative dynamic like in your household? Do you bounce ideas off each other for your individual projects?
(TA): Cece is the real deal. She’s an absolute genius and has true magic swooshing out of her magic markers.
Best for me to stand clear and just cheer from the sidelines. Go Cece!!!
Before we go, is there anything else you’d like to share about yourself, your writing, or this latest book?
(TA): Those were great questions and gave me the chance to say everything I needed to say.
About the Books
Two-Headed Chicken: Chaos in the Cosmic Library
Written and Illustrated by Tom Angleberger
Ages 7-10 | 208 Pages
Publisher: Walker Books US (2025) | ISBN-13: 978-1536237054
Publisher’s Book Summary: It’s nonstop goofy comedy as Two-Headed Chicken invades other books in this third graphic novel adventure from New York Times best-selling creator Tom Angleberger.
Our zany hero, Two-Headed Chicken, has traveled the multiverse using the AstroCap and romped through the chronoverse using the TimeCap. Now they dare to ask: What happens if they use both caps at the same time? Answer: Chaos! Unfortunately, the chaos is so ridiculous that the reader slams their book closed, trapping the double-noggined main character in eternal darkness. But wait! Two-Headed Chicken escapes into the Cosmic Library, which contains every book ever written. Now, still pursued by the chicken-hungry moose Kernel Antlers, Two-Headed Chicken hops their way through a parade of familiar titles, from a hundred-acre wood to a kissy vampire novel, interacting with the befuddled characters and leaving mayhem in their wake. With interactive puzzles and activities and wall-to-wall jokes, Tom Angleberger delivers another absurdist delight in this madcap series.
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Two-Headed Chicken: Beak to the Future
Written and Illustrated by Tom Angleberger
Ages 7-10 | 208 Pages
Publisher: Walker Books US (2023) | ISBN-13: 978-1536223224
Publisher’s Book Summary: The two-headed chicken is back, with twice the adventure, twice the jokes, and a lot more heads (wait, did they just accidentally turn into a double-headed space snake?). Having lost the Astrocap™ somewhere in the multiverse, our intrepid hero dons the Timecap™ to scour the timestream, which looks a lot like broccoli, in search of it. But danger and drama await with every time-hopping POOZB! of the Timecap™, including hungry dinosaurs, fierce werewolves, poet Emily Dickinson, a fish with a mustache who wants to talk about feelings, and even the return of the chicken’s archenemy, Kernel Antlers, the shape-shifting moose! With lively art and quirky nods to history and literature, readers will be swept along for oodles of zany escapades—and brought into the book itself through games, puzzles, drawing activities, and even as a vital character. Tom Angleberger’s absurdist humor shines on every page of this nonstop ride.
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Two-Headed Chicken
Written and Illustrated by Tom Angleberger
Ages 7-10 | 208 Pages
Publisher: Walker Books US (2022) | ISBN-13: 978-1536223217
Publisher’s Book Summary: In a hilarious, absurdist romp by New York Times best-selling creator Tom Angleberger, a two-headed chicken races across the multiverse to escape a hungry moose.
Anything is possible in the multiverse, including a madcap adventure starring a plucky two-headed chicken. But look out—there’s a chicken-hungry moose in pursuit! In this fourth wall–breaking graphic novel, our double-headed hero is chased through dozens of bizarre universes, from an ocean planet with a disturbing mermoose (that you can never unsee) to a world where chickens drive cars, and even to a land covered with . . . pizza sauce? With each BZOOP! of the universe-hopping Astrocap, the only thing to expect is the unexpected. Packed with jokes, quizzes, and games, the two-headed chicken’s wacky escapades will remind readers of such favorites as Dog Man and CatStronauts. Absurdist superstar Tom Angleberger makes his original graphic novel debut with this lightning-fast caper that will have readers laughing out loud and eager for each new page.
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About the Author
Tom Angleberger is the author of the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling Origami Yoda series, as well as Fake Mustache and Horton Halfpott, both Edgar Award nominees, and the Qwikpick Papers series. He is also the author of the transportation picture book McToad Mows Tiny Island. Tom lives with his wife, Cece Bell, in Christiansburg, Virginia.
Learn more at origamiyoda.com.
This interview—Interview with Tom Angleberger, Author of the ‘Two-Headed Chicken’ Series—was conducted between Tom Angleberger and Bianca Schulze.
