Giant anacondas in the sewers of Oslo?
Corporate espionage and theft of intellectual property?
A limitless, renewable fuel source that might propel humanity to the stars?
I'm getting ahead of myself.
You may not have heard of Jo Nesbø, but he's actually one of the most popular writers in Norway, where he has sold over 1.5 million copies of his eight "Harry Hole" detective novels.
After 10 years of writing crime novels, Nesbø took up the challenge of children's fiction. The result, in 2007, was Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder, an irresistibly funny short novel set in modern-day Oslo.
Since 2001, Bruce Coville's Full Cast Audio has been turning out magnificent multi-voiced productions of great contemporary children's literature as well as a few "modern classics." There are more than 80 unabridged Full Cast titles available on Playaway .
For the last couple of years, in addition to its trademark full-cast productions, FCA, under the imprint of "Full Cast - OneVoice", has also put out a handful of titles that are narrated by a single, versatile reader. Two of these OneVoice titles -- Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder and A Dog On His Own -- make use of the prolific and extremely talented narrator William Dufris. The Doctor Proctor book launched on Playaway in September. and I confess that the title caught my eye. But it was with slight trepidation that I started to listen.
The fart jokes begin about 12 minutes in -- that is if you don't count the comical tuba music that introduces the production. I hasten to point out, however, that the phenomena caused by the miraculous invention of the eccentric Doctor Proctor, though extremely loud, are non-odorous, and likewise, the humor manages to steer clear of being overly raunchy.
This isn't the first kid's book to take on the subject of flatulence, and I daresay it will not be the last. And really, why should it be? After all, the subject is a proven crowd-pleaser.
In fact, the book is full of humor, and most of it is non-scatological in nature. In addition to the topics I noted at the outset, the story deals with: the true meaning of Norwegian Independence Day; big, angry men in gigantic gas-guzzling Hummers; schoolyard bullying; marching bands; and the longest car chase in Norwegian history.
Akershus Fortress on the Oslofjord
Dufris has a field day with the material, producing a wide array of goofy voices and displaying perfect comic pitch in his interpretation of the carefully constructed story. I don't know how it reads in Norwegian, but credit must be given to translator Tara Chace, who renders it very smoothly into an extremely entertaining narrative in English.
With a run time of about 4 hours, this would be a perfect kid's audiobook for a car trip. The two heroes are 10-year-old Lisa and the new arrival to her neighborhood, a boy of the same age named Nilly. It's difficult to imagine a boy or girl between the ages of 8 and 12 who would not find this story engaging and highly amusing -- potentially just the ticket for reluctant readers. And if someone encourages them to find Oslo on the map, they might even learn a little bit of geography.
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Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Senior Content Strategist
Twitter: david_perrotta
