Customer Reviews

Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a children's librarian, sometimes I look at the rows of books on my shelves in despair. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is checked out in toto, and my young patrons have read all of Captain Underpants. What else do I have to offer them? Errr, Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Secret Garden? Beverly Cleary?

With Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder, I need look no further! I can't go wrong with a book with "fart" in the title. Nor will my young patrons be cheated at check out. They'll be taking home with them a book involving anacondas in sewers, TWO kinds of fart powder (Doctor Proctor's Totally Normal Fart Powder and the more powerful Fartonaut Powder), bullies, villains, chase scenes involving Hummers, dungeons, mustachioed police, a powder that turns you glowing translucent green so that you can see your own skeleton, marching bands, sewer sliding, and a foiled robbery. All tied together with a very neat plot that keeps snapping the reader to attention and in the end leaves the two young farts, Lisa and Nilly (William) good friends. Mike Lowery's minimal line drawings add greatly to the drollery.

Author Jo Nesbo has done a terrific job of creating a great story around what parents have always considered a disgusting and unspeakable human function and what kids, esp. boys, consider to be one which is endlessly fascinating, i.e., farting. Jo Nesbo is to farting what D.H. Lawrence was to that other disgusting and unspeakable human function!

I ordered this for my 9 year old son; the following (and the title of this review) are his comments after reading this book. As a gauge of his recent favorite books, he is a huge fan of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series and Michael Chabon's Summerland.

"This book was alright. The author seemed to be writing for older kids, like in 4th grade or higher. But, the humor and the silliness is really the kind of thing that kids much younger than that really like. It kind of reminded me of the jokes in books like Captain Underpants; those are really for little kids. Unfortunately, I don't think little kids are ready to read such a long book. So, I would not read this again myself but might read it to my little brother, who is six and in Kindergarten."

I am a bit worried that his review says more about him than the book. But, I share...

Typically when I see a kids' book with words such as "fart" in the title I don't give them a second glance. However, this book is written by one of my favourite thriller authors and the simple fact that he had written a children's a book was enough to make me *have* to read the book, never mind what it was called or what it was about.

Surprisingly, though the book is about an invention of farting powder, there is not a great deal of "toilet humour" to be found. Perhaps it's cultural, or it gets lost in translation, but the humour comes from different directions. I thought this was a delightful, funny, well-written story.

Nilly is new in the neighbourhood, he is very tiny for his age. He meets neighbours Lisa on one side and Doctor Proctor on the other. Dr. Proctor lets them in on his latest invention which is a Farting Powder. When no real use for the powder can be found they decide to sell it as a novelty item to kids, but twin bullies Truls and Trym want theirs for free so Nilly gives them an extra shot in their powder which sends them flying up into a tree. Dr. Proctor has an industrial strength version of the powder which he thinks belongs safely in the hands of NASA to be used for rocketless space travel. But then someone steals the industrial strength powder for evil purposes.

The story is full of excitement and adventure. Nilly finds himself in extreme situations from being sent to jail to being eaten by a boa constrictor called Anna Conda. The story also has a wonderful cultural appeal to it as well with plenty of inside jokes on Norway's size and not-so-famous status in the world. It's quite amazing that Nesbo, who writes such stunning adult thrillers, has the ability to write such a fun, whimsical children's story as well. He certainly is a talented writer. I highly recommend this. It will appeal to both boys and girls, but I'd certainly add this to any Books for Boys list. A hilarious romp. It would be great to see Nesbo come out with another children's book in the future. (Just as long as it doesn't interfere with his thrillers' schedule :-)

Oh if only one could get past the American revulsion for the word "fart," because here you'd find a very witty, very funny, and very literate children's book. The flap says this is the Norwegian author's first children's book, which I can believe, because he never talks down to his kid-sized readers.

It is unfortunate that this book might search for its audience, since the subject matter is clearly juvenile but the writing is of such high quality, even a little sophisticated, it is really geared for older (and very bright) kids. I thought my brainy 14-year-old would enjoy it because he loves Harry Potter and the Series of Unfortunate Events books...but he wouldn't touch this. I know it was because he thought it was a "little kid's book." It's not!!! But...there is that "fart" word, and the cartoon cover.

The book is beautifully designed, with double-spaced lines and a hardcover volume of a perfect size for holding and curling up to read.

Recommendation: Definitely, and I hope it finds the audience it deserves.

Listen reveiwers, readers and potential buyers...
This book is really cool. I enjoyed it and I'm twelve. Honestly, there are not enough books in the world with farting in them! Please go home and read this book, it will bring out the inner child in you!

My son is 10, special needs and loves anything to do with "farting". I was eager to read this to him and didn't want to put it down but his attention span is short; so we read alittle over the course of a week. He loved the adventures Nilly and Lisa went on and laught at every one. Some topics flew over his head, but were quite funny for me! I would definately recommend this book for children in this appropiate age, 5-10 or so. You will pick it up and read it again just for the laughs! It might seem like an unusal book to buy your kids but its a funny one thats for sure!

This book is perfect for Captain Underpants fans. It has the same silly scatological humor that young kids (boys especially) can't get enough of. It's gross enough to crack up the kids, but all in good-natured fun. My eight year old son loves it.

Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder is full of little cartoon illustrations, similar to Diary of a Wimpy Kid. This makes the book especially appealing to my son.

The reading level is a little harder than Captain Underpants, but perhaps a little easier than Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

This book was great in the beginning, but not so good at the end. I like that the book had to do with farting, and disgusting things. I also liked that there were different powders that the professor made, and I wish I could have some fart powder for myself! (hahah). I am 7 years old, and this is the longest book that I have read. I was excited when I finished the book because I knew what it was about. I think the title would get kids attention especially kids that like disgusting things!

A perfect book for the 11 year old nephew, I heard he could not put it down. My phone call to him yielded many hilarious anecdotes. I could see him crying while laughing while he told me his favorite parts. This isn't a kid who gets into reading so even though it's not one of the most cultured of topics, he loved it. He said it should be made into a movie.

this book was alright,not the best. if your looking for a good book by joe nesbo try the sencond book,bubble in the bath tub