Illustrated by Mike Lowery. Aladdin/Simon & Schuster; 265 pages; comedy; ages 9-13; ISBN: 978-1-4169-7972-2.
"The most successful Norwegian author of all time," according to this title's book jacket, turns his attention away from crime fiction and toward more juvenile matters, but if you're a reluctant reader of the male persuasion, you'll probably get a kick out of this goofy tale of a Norwegian boy named Nilly. When his family moves to a new house he makes the acquaintance of the girl next door, Lisa, and Doctor Proctor, a kindly inventor, whose latest creation is fart powder. There's a normal version that provides the funny noises without the terrible smells, but the doctor also has an industrial-strength version that can send Nilly up, up, and away into outer space (in a chapter entitled "The Fartonaut"). He hopes to sell the latter version to NASA, but another neighbor, the evil Mr. Trane, plans to steal the powder and sell it to the space agency first.
Despite the famous four-letter word in the title,
Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder doesn't dwell on bathroom humor. Instead Nesbø uses the beloved/reviled bodily function to entice readers (again, those of the male persuasion) who might not otherwise want to read a story involving kooky inventors, stoopid twin bullies, and a giant snake that lives in the sewer. Nesbø's bone-dry style respects a general rule of comedy: no matter how outlandish your story becomes, always take it completely seriously.
For further reading, check out Nesbø's sequel, Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder: Bubble in the Bathtub (2011). (In case you haven't guessed already, kids, it includes farting too.)
No comments:
Post a Comment