Herbert's Wormhole

More text-heavy than the subtitle suggests, this loopy debut opens as Alex's well-meaning parents buy the 10-year-old a jungle gym. They also arrange a playdate (""Playdate? Alex hadn't had a playdate since he was seven"") with neighbor Herbert, a compulsive inventor, who tinkers with the body suits that came with his AlienSlayer:3-D! video game. When he and Alex wear the suits on the jungle gym, the tubular slide becomes a wormhole that catapults them 100 years into the future. Their hometown is now inhabited by G'Daliens, aliens that speak with Australian accents and resemble giant squid wearing toupees and fake mustaches, a sight the boys find ""fall-down, pee-in-your-pants hilarious."" The cartoony line art and wacky futuristic particulars should appeal most to readers whose sense of humor tends toward the absurd. Ages 8-12.