Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder

By Jo Nesbo

Doctor Proctor has finally created something to help him fulfil his dream of becoming a famous inventor - a super-strength fart powder that can propel people into outer space! And with the help of his new neighbour Nilly, and Nilly's friend Lisa, Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder is ready to go worldwide! But ruthless twins Truls and Trym are determined to get hold of the powder for themselves. Their plot to spoil the Doctor's plans sparks a fart-filled adventure involving a firework extravaganza, a trip to prison and an escaped anaconda. Full of humour and witty dialogue, Jo Nesbøcreates wonderfully weird characters and lets his imagination run wild in his delightful children's book début.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Dec 22, 2011
• ISBN: 9780857077127

Jo Nesbo

A musician, songwriter, and economist, Jo Nesbø is also one of Europe’s most acclaimed crime writers, and is the winner of the Glass Key Award, northern Europe’s most prestigious crime-fiction prize, for his first novel featuring Police Detective Harry Hole. Nesbø lives in Oslo.

Reviews for Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first book in what is sure to be a hilarious series. The pairing of Jo Nesbo and Mike Lowery reminds me of Roald Dahl partnered with Quentin Blake, in the best way possible. I will be posting an in-depth review of this series on How I Feel About Books soon.

[shannon.allen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very fun book with mystery, adventure (such exciting and exhilarating adventure), and all sorts of twists! This was a wonderful book to listen to and I'm positive it would be a great read with fun voices and silly effects. I'm glad to see that there are more books with Dr Proctor and his hilarity for my kids and me to explore!

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Originally published in Norway as Doktor Proktors prumpepulver, this amusing middle grade novel, the first in a series of adventures featuring the titular Doctor Proctor and his two young friends, draws upon the perennially popular kind of potty humor that has made titles such as The Adventures of Captain Underpants, The Story of the Little Mole Who Went in Search of Whodunit and The Gas We Pass: The Story of Farts so successful. Opening in Oslo - "the very small capital city of a very small country called Norway" - it details the coming of pint-sized Nilly to Cannon Street, where he befriends his neighbors Lisa, whose best friend has recently moved away, and Doctor Proctor, a mad-scientist type forever inventing new things. When Doctor Proctor's latest experiment produces two amazing powders, one that creates a loud but odorless fart, the other which produces a fart so powerful that it propels the person farting into the stratosphere, the three friends are pleased and excited. Nilly and Lisa see the first powder as a way to make friends at school, and to raise money - what kid wouldn't want to buy special fart powder?!? - while the Professor hopes that the second powder will allow him to win back his long-lost love, by making him a famous inventor. Things are rarely as simple as we'd like them to be, however, and the nefarious Trane family - obnoxious Hummer-driving Mr. Trane, and his two bully sons, Truls and Trym - soon interferes, going so far as to have Nilly and Doctor Proctor locked up in the city's most feared jail cell, the Dungeon of the Dead, while they set out to steal the farting powders. Can Nilly and the doctor escape in time to foil their plot? Or will Lisa, left behind on Cannon Street, be able to deal with the crisis on her own...? Chosen as our January selection over in The International Children's Book Club to which I belong, in which we read a children's book from a different country each month, Doctor Proctor's Farting Powder is the debut children's book from celebrated Norwegian crime novelist Jo Nesbø. It is an entertaining tale, with plenty of funny flatulence to keep young readers amused, and a humorous self deprecation - the constant references to Norway being such a small country, the mention of the "almost famous" annual cannon salute to the Norwegian king ("who didn't rule over enough for it to amount to anything"), the never-quite-on-time or in-tune marching bands that perform on Independence Day (Norway Constitution Day) - that will please adult readers. I can't say that it is destined to become a personal favorite, but I enjoyed the reading experience, and would consider reading the sequel, Bubble in the Bathtub.

[delzey_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Proving that some humor is universal, this Norwegian import is a romp worthy of all the comparisons to Roald Dahl that I've read in other reviews. Tiny Nilly moves to a new neighborhood in Oslo and discovers that his neighbor, Doctor Proctor, is a bit of a nutty professor who invents wacky, seemingly useless stuff. Like an industrial-strength fart powder that doesn't smell and can hurl a human into the atmosphere. Enter the villains, a set of twin boys named Truls and Trym and their Hummer driving father who plot to steal the powder and sell it to NASA before the good doctor can. And just because this sort of premise isn't weird enough there is a man-eating snake in the sewers and the problem of there being no gunpowder to set off the cannons on Norwegian Independence Day. Oh yeah, it'll all come together in the end. If the subject of farting as an integral part of the narrative turns you off, if it would prevent you from enjoying a funny and engaging narrative, then that's a shame. While I certainly don't condone gratuitous use of potty humor to engage young readers we have, for better or worse, lost those days where a story like this could be told about belching or something more innocent. In fact if I think too hard about this there's a quite bit of The Absent Minded Professor in this story, which makes it hardly the most original idea. But Nesbo keeps things light and, uh, airy, and fills the story with bits of the preposterous that make it genuinely funny.Like flushing poor Nilly down a toilet so he can escape a prison cell and swim (yes, swim) through raw sewage in order to escape, but becomes swallowed by the boa that lives there. And there's Nilly, watching as the snake's digestive juices dissolve the rubber on his shoes, accepting his fate and not the least bit frantic (maybe a little nervous)... until he notices something promising about some of the other contents in the snake's stomach. Without giving too much away, Nilly does indeed escape and Nesbo gives this image of a snake flying out the sewer drain and flailing around the skies above Oslo's harbor like a giant balloon quickly deflating.Nesbo has, until recently, been an award-winning writer of detective fiction in Norway and this is his first foray into children's literature. Normally I get a hinky feeling when I hear about successful adult writers tapping the children's market because sometimes it feels like the author is trading on their name, and the publishers are simply going with a known quantity over seeking out quality. That isn't the case here as Nesbo clearly knows how to entertain the audience with clever, goofy humor. And I sincerely hope that the second book, Doctor Proctor and the Time Bathtub, manages to find its way to translation soon.ALA question: Could this be a contender for the Mildred L. Batchelder award, or is it not serious enough?

[christianr_899499 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is Jo Nesbo's, the hugely successful Norwegian author, first children's book and it is hilarious. A great suggestion for reluctant readers. Nilly has just moved into the neighborhood, where he meets Doctor Proctor, an inventor, and Lisa. Doctor Proctor's latest invention: fart powder that makes people fart really, really loud farts. When they tinker with the formula, they invent fartenaut powder, a powder so powerful they offer it to NASA to use as a substitute for expensive rocket ships. They begin selling the fart powder to eager kids, but the two bullies in the neighborhood insist on getting the powder for free -- so Nilly secretly substitutes the fartenaut powder and scares the willies out of the boys. Things get even crazier from there.

[ginger72_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Another book that didn't hold my attention or my 9 year olds attention. :(It appeared that it relied solely on the humor of the word "fart". Which was funny at first but half way thru we grew tired of the repeated use of the word. It became predictable and after a while we just didn't care what the characters were doing with the magical powder.

[juliangray-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

it is a good book but it needs more description

[stephxsu · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was never a fan of bathroom humor, and this one felt like 250 pages too much bathroom humor for me. I'm not sure how well this book worked as a point of discussion for my EL410 class: some days we could talk until our time ran out, and some days I found myself trying to force a dialogue when it would rather trail off out the window. Part of the problem is that the translation is so awkward. The combination of bathroom humor and semi-distant, semi-omnipotent narration just wasn't gelling for me.

[aliceap-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder by Jo Nesbo (you might have seen his books for adults) is the tale of a little girl and her new neighbor (a tiny boy with a big personality). They befriend a failed scientist (suitably eccentric) with many (unsuccessful and useless) inventions to his name (all more ridiculous than the last). However, his latest invention seems to be a real winner: a powder that when ingested causes the person to fart most spectacularly and explosively. In fact, the powder is so successful that it launches the person into the sky! Can you think of anything better for a group of children? An utterly ridiculous little book this would appeal to a middle grade reader who enjoyed the Captain Underpants or Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. [A/N: This book was originally written in Swedish before being translated into English.] 5/10Trigger warning: pretty intense bullying and a corrupt, abusive father.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 what I call 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 :-)