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Overview
Nilly is new to the neighborhood, but is quick to make friends: Doctor Proctor, an eccentric professor; and Lisa, who is teased by the twin terrors Truls and Trym. Nilly and Lisa help Doctor Proctor develop his latest invention, a powder that makes you fart. The powder makes Nilly and Lisa VERY popular at school when they sell it for 50c a bag. And they get revenge on Truls and Trym by giving them an extra strength dose of fart powder that shoots them up into a tree. All is good farty fun. Until someone steals the industrial-strength fart powder — that was supposed to make Doctor Proctor famous — to use for evil purposes…
Synopsis
Bestselling Norwegian mystery author Jo Nesbø enters the world of children’s books with Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder, the first book in this very funny middle-grade series. Filled with magic, wit, and bathroom humor, Doctor Proctor will keep boys and girls laughing until the end.Eleven-year-old Nilly is new to the neighborhood, but he is quick to make friends: Doctor Proctor, an eccentric professor who invents wacky potions and powders; and brainy Lisa, who is always teased by the twin terrors Truls and Trym. All is good farty fun when Nilly and Lisa help Doctor Proctor develop his latest invention, a powder that makes you fart. The powder makes Nilly and Lisa VERY popular at school when they sell it for 50 cents a bag. (And they get revenge on Truls and Trym by giving them an extra-strength dose of fart powder that shoots them up into a tree!)
But when Doctor Proctor creates an industrial-strength version that can send people to outer space, the kids must go to great lengths to protect the invention and keep it out of the hands of their neighbors, who want to use the powder for evil purposes.
In the spirit of Roald Dahl and Lemony Snicket, Doctor Proctor offers a winning combination of humor, adventure, and absurdity that kids (of all ages) will love—proving that Jo Nesbø can keep you on the edge of the seat and make your sides split in equal measure.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Provocative title aside, Norwegian author Nesbø's children's book debut is a sweet, silly, and often amusing tale. A very small boy named Nilly moves to Oslo, Norway, where he quickly meets the titular mad scientist, who has accidentally invented two fart powders. One provides classic flatulence (albeit without the odor), while the other leads to flatulence so strong that it can propel children hundreds of feet into the air. As Nilly and his new friend Lisa help market the invention, they find themselves at the mercy of twin bullies Truls and Trym and their corrupt father. The over-the-top story eventually ties in the toughest prison in Norway and a vicious sewer anaconda, but Nesbø writes with an appropriately silly tone to justify these twists. The goofiness does eventually wear thin, but Nilly's oversize tall tales, Lisa's common sense, and Proctor's insane inventions should charm younger readers, even those who might be disappointed that the book isn't quite as gross as the title implies. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. (Dec.)School Library Journal
Gr 4–6—Between the title and the cover image (a red-haired boy flying high, quite obviously fueled by a certain amusing bodily function), this book will have no trouble enticing fans of Captain Underpants and the Wimpy Kid. It's nothing we haven't read before: a slightly mad scientist invents, among other things, an amazing farting powder that allows two unpopular kids to foil the bullies and achieve popularity and their various dreams. The Norwegian setting and situations make it a little more exotic, and there is plenty of gross-out humor (including a particularly disgusting journey through the city sewers, well-deserved and truly poetic justice against the main bad guy, and a really memorable, um, "Seven Butt Salute" to celebrate May 17th, Norwegian Independence Day). Lowery's line drawings add to the fun. Hand this book to Pilkey and Kinney fanatics to tide them over and pray no one ever really comes up with such an invention.—Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public LibraryKirkus Reviews
In this well-knit crossover debut for young audiences, a popular Norwegian author crafts an airy farce from elements both familiar and offbeat-from new friends with wildly disparate personalities afflicted by big but really stupid bullies (with a father to match) to an eccentric inventor and encounters with a giant anaconda in the sewers of Oslo. No sooner do shy Lisa and her brash, pint-sized new neighbor Nilly (William) bond than they also hook up with lonely Doctor Proctor-creator of a marvelous powder that produces massive, britches-busting bursts of (odorless) intestinal gas. Nesbo takes this promising MacGuffin in directions more comical than gross, having his two young protagonists use the powder in clever ways to foil hulking nemeses Truls and Trym, escape the aforementioned anaconda and ultimately even provide festive explosions for the grand Norwegian Independence Day celebration. Readers will have blasts of their own cheering on the sturdy protagonists. Lowery's childlike line drawings are too sparse to have a noticeable effect on this rib-tickling tale. (Fiction. 10-12)Book Details
Published
December 7, 2010
Publisher
Aladdin
Pages
288
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9781416979739