(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

(3) 4-6 Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder series. Illustrated by Mike Lowery. The fourth book in the Norwegian series takes Nilly and Lisa to London to save Norway's entire gold reserve, stolen by a Russian billionaire. Doctor Proctor, scientist and inventor of odorless "fartonaut powder" and other strangely implausible potions, helps the kids pull off a fantastically successful financial rescue. Silly humor coupled with outlandish thrills will appeal to lovers of cartoonish absurdity.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan

(3) 4-6 Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder series. Illustrated by Mike Lowery. Nilly and Lisa discover that their hometown of Oslo, Norway, has been hypnotized by aliens hoping to turn humans into a food source, and it's up to them to stop the pending invasion. Full of delightful absurdities--including sewer snakes, seven-legged spiders, sinister waffle irons, and the occasional fart joke--Nesbø's story is as fresh as the humor is quirky.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(3) 4-6 Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder series. Translated by Tara Chase. Illustrated by Mike Lowery. A secret message on a postcard sends young Nilly and Lisa from Norway to Paris to save Doctor Proctor and reunite him with his long-lost love. There's a time-traveling bathtub involved, and Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Gustave Eiffel all make appearances as the kids save the doctor from evil Claude Cliché. Nesbø's absurd action and nimble nonsense are thoroughly entertaining.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Mike Lowery. Nilly's family moves next door to Dr. Proctor, an eccentric professor who invents a fart powder capable of sending people into space. But when Nilly discovers a plot to steal the powder, he and his friend Lisa must act to protect the professor and his invention. Striking a good balance between wit and absurdity, the text echoes the bizarre and hilarious world of Roald Dahl.

Reviewer: David Elzey