(3) K-3 Translated by Tara Chace. Illustrated by Svein Nyhus. Sometimes Boj's daddy turns into "Angryman." Boj and Mama must survive the dangerous outbursts until, finally, Boj tells "the king" that "Daddy hits" and he gets help. This Norwegian import is an emotionally powerful child's perspective on domestic violence. The sharp angles, dark colors, heavy lines, and distorted perspectives effectively convey the child's experience.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) 4-6 Translated by Tara Chace. His body now infused with the metal luridium, code-breaker William (William Wenton and the Impossible Puzzle) begins to suffer from uncontrollable seizures. He returns to the Institute for Post-Human Research for answers but finds only threatening secrets. The adventure's breakneck pace should appeal to reluctant readers, but it leaves little time for pondering some of the thorny technological and moral issues in this Norwegian series.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(3) 4-6 Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder series. Translated by Tara Chace. Illustrated by Mike Lowery. There's a new edict in Norway: you have to buy 10,000 crowns worth of merchandise from department-store mogul Mr. Thrane in order to participate in Christmas. So Doctor Proctor, Nilly, and Lisa are off to find Santa and save Christmas for everyone aided by a nuclear-powered sleigh with a vampire giraffe cuckoo mechanism. Occasional chunky line drawings complement the zany, absurdist humor.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(4) K-3 Translated by Tara Chace. In the series' fourth outing, getting-on-in-years farmer Pettson and his talking cat, Findus, intend to pitch their tent in the woods, but the hens sabotage their plan. As always, Nordqvist's detailed art is a thoughtful homage to the master-pet bond and to country life's languorous pleasures. This is also reflected in the somewhat sluggish storytelling, which rewards those who hang in there.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) 4-6 Translated by Tara Chace. William Wenton, a genius puzzle-solver, breaks the family rule of keeping a low profile and solves a museum exhibit called the Impossible Puzzle, which lands him in a secret boarding school full of equally (well, not quite) gifted kids. This Norwegian-import series-starter isn't a standout example of the gifted-boarding-school premise, and readers interested in ciphers and codes may wish for more examples.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(3) YA Translated by Tara F. Chace. When teens Mia, Midori, and Antoine win a trip to the moon as part of an international publicity campaign for NASA, they are more excited about their newfound fame than the voyage itself--until they reach their destination and the nightmare begins. Despite the bleak ending, this terrifying story will appeal to fans of horror and classic science fiction alike.

Reviewer: Barratt Miller

(2) YA Translated by Tara Chace. Junior high student Markus (Markus and Diana) has fallen in love fifteen times in two months. His friend Sigmund volunteers to be a go-between for Markus, who's too shy to approach his latest love object. Of course this plan backfires, as do almost all of the boys' machinations. Hagerup's romp of Shakespearean comedic complexity is balanced by a healthy dose of slapstick.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2009

(4) YA Translated by Tara Chace. Alex (a picked-on male ballet dancer) and Kyla (a popular party girl) meet in an online chatroom. They discover how much they have in common, and their correspondence becomes a deep but stormy friendship. The characters are too broadly drawn to evoke much sympathy, but the angst experienced by this Swedish import's protagonists may resonate with readers.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(3) YA Translated by Tara Chace. The fact that boy loves and loses girl is unsurprising in this tale of first romance; it's the storytelling voice that stands out. Prose poems trace Morris's relationships with Betty and with his family, including a father who has bipolar disorder. The short passages forego copious detail, distilling intimacy and adolescent strife to their most poignant moments.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(4) YA Translated by Tara Chace. Seventeen-year-old Jonatan, incapacitated by a mysterious accident, is the voiceless focal point of this flashback narrative as his father, mother, and girlfriend gather in his hospital room to tell their versions of his past. The women's short accounts are eclipsed by the father's rambling reminiscences, which makes the novel drag despite its smooth translation and each character's raw sincerity.

Reviewer: Lauren Maggio

(2) 4-6 Translated by Tara Chace. Markus, a charmingly nerdy thirteen-year-old with self-esteem problems, teams up with his brainiac sidekick, Sigmund, to hatch a complex plan for Markus to meet his movie star crush. The Norwegian setting lends a mild exoticism to a comic plot. Beneath the slapstick lies a deftly handled tale of childhood fears and a touching portrait of two relationships.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2006

(2) YA Translated by Tara Chace. Three disparate lives converge in this pensive, enigmatic Swedish import. Anon is a twelve-year-old loner. Zarah is a beautiful seventeen-year-old caught up in a (graphically described) sexual relationship. Nils is a twenty-year-old college student searching for the meaning of life and death. This sophisticated novel hooks readers in with its intriguing portrayal of how individuals can affect one another's destiny.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2005

(1) YA Translated by Tara Chace. Like its emotionally fragile main character, this affecting, uniquely constructed Swedish novel about first love--and first heartbreak--puts up a pretense of detachment. The teenage narrator mentally replays details of his recent romance as if they were movie scenes. The relationship unfolds through a chain of short, cinematic chapters that flow smoothly back and forth between the giddy, head-over-heels phase of the near-past to the anguish of the present.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2004