Doctor Proctor's fart powder

Name: Doctor Proctor's fart powder
Author: Jo Nesbø
ISBN: 9781439156063

Age Rating, Reading Level & Content Guide

by Jo Nesbø

Reading Level 5-6 LE · Mild · Emotional Ages 9-12 Balanced Read

The text is written at a 5th grade reading level, the subject matter is intended for middle graders (ages 9–12), and the content is mild with minimal sensitive material. Its HootRating code, LE, means mild content, mostly emotional.

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About This Book

Nilly grips a jar of Doctor Proctor's brand-new powder while Truls and Trym stomp toward the schoolyard, ready for trouble. One pinch makes you fart, and the extra-strength kind can blast you straight into the sky. Then Nilly looks at the shelf, and the most dangerous jar is already gone.

Themes

Friendship Humor Adventure Mystery

Quick Assessment

Two new friends, Nilly and Lisa, help an eccentric inventor test a powder that makes people fart, then use it to get back at twin bullies who pick on Lisa. The book is silly and full of bathroom humor, with a light thread of bullying and a stolen formula that gives the story its mild peril. Parents should know the revenge plot is played for laughs and resolved with friendship rather than cruelty.

Why we rated Doctor Proctor's fart powder LE (Mild)

Doctor Proctor's fart powder is written at a Level 5-6 reading level across 274 pages. Reading-wise, most kids in grade 7 and up can manage Doctor Proctor's fart powder on their own; younger readers can enjoy it with a parent or teacher reading along.

We rate Doctor Proctor's fart powder as LE (Mild, mostly emotional) because the content sits in the "Mild" range — mild conflict — the kind a child encounters in normal play and sibling life. Across our four dimensions (emotional, physical, social, thematic) the book reads as evenly mild; no single dimension stands out as a concern.

Specific content flags noted by reviewers: Bullying, Mild peril, Flatulence humor, Theft.

Thematically, Doctor Proctor's fart powder explores friendship, humor, adventure, and mystery — these threads give the book room to mean different things to different readers.

Good fit for

✓ Children in the Ages 9-12 range — the maturity and attention span match the story's pacing.
✓ Kids drawn to stories about friendship, humor, adventure.

Maybe not for

! Readers looking for something heavier — this is a gentle, low-stakes story by design.

For Parents

Content Intensity

LE · Mild · Emotional

Emotional

Mild ←

Physical

Mild

Social

Gentle

Thematic

Mild

Reading the HootRating code: the first letter is the content intensity (C = Gentle · L = Mild · M = Moderate · I = Intense · V = Very Intense); the second, when there is one, is the kind of content that drives it (E = Emotional · P = Physical · S = Social · T = Thematic). Reading level and age range are rated separately. How we rate

Light conflict or tension. Mild peril resolved quickly.