Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder

About the Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder series

Long before Wolf Hour and alongside the Harry Hole novels, Jo Nesbø wrote a five-book middle-grade series built entirely around a scientifically improbable premise: eccentric inventor Doctor Victor Proctor's fart powder, a concoction so precisely engineered it can be tuned for volume, duration, even distinct musical notes. In Oslo, lonely, red-haired Nilly and his new best friend Lisa team up with Doctor Proctor for adventures that use the powder as both slapstick engine and genuine plot device — propelling characters through pipes, powering makeshift rockets, or simply as the funniest possible distraction at the worst possible moment.

Each book layers a real children's-adventure plot on top of the toilet humor: kidnapped friends, a mad-scientist rival, a bathtub time machine, a gold heist and, in the final book, a Christmas rescue mission. Nesbø's dry, absurdist wit (recognizable from his adult thrillers, if pointed in a very different direction) and the series' willingness to commit fully to its premise rather than treating the fart jokes as filler have made it a substantial international bestseller for younger readers, translated into dozens of languages well beyond Norway.