Sweet Farts Book Review

Someone has been farting up a storm at school and everyone thinks Keith Emerson is to blame. Unfortunately for Keith, it has earned him the nickname “S.B.D.” (silent but deadly). To make matters worse, Keith’s dad is a self-proclaimed “Fart Machine” who really stinks it up at home. With the science fair quickly approaching, Keith decides he has had enough. He comes up with a science fair project idea to turn the foul smell of human gas into something sweet smelling. The idea lands him in the principal’s office, and in big trouble with his mom. With the help of his little sister Emma, his dad, his crazy grandma, and Benjamin Franklin (great American scientist), Keith will attempt to make the greatest scientific discovery of all time, the cure for the common fart.

Author bio for Raymond Bean:

Born in Queens, NY, Bean is a fourth grade teachers, in addition to being the author of the wildly funny middle grade book three-book series, Sweet Farts. The first two books in the series are consistently in Amazon’s top 100 books for children. The third book, Blown Away, comes out April 3, 2012. Foreign editions of his books have been released in Germany and Korea. Editions for Italy, Brazil, and Turkey will be released soon. He writes for kids who claim they don’t like reading.

Praise for Sweet Farts:

“Narrator Nick Podehl does a superb job of bringing this production to life, creating unique and entertaining voices. This humorous, albeit somewhat crude story, will appeal to reluctant readers and fans of the popular Captain Underpants series who are looking for something both silly and fun.”

– School Library Journal

In Sweet Farts, 10-year-old Keith Emerson invented a much-heralded product that took the smell out of intestinal gas for his school science project. In much of this sequel, though, Keith is discontented. He can’t come up with anything to match his earlier invention; his little sister refuses to eat anything but candy; and he is nervous about an upcoming television interview…Additional comic scenes, though, add needed variety to the gas-centric humor, which will delight its target audience. Grades 3-5.—Booklist

My Thoughts:
We just finished the first book and started on the second this week. Even though my older boys have reading levels probably higher than my own, I still read out loud every night. I read few chapters each night and everyone in the family enjoyed it. If you’re like the main characters mom and don’t even like the word ‘Fart,’ maybe it won’t be for you. There is a good amount of potty related humor but if you’re ok with that, I think this book is really for all ages. My 4 year old listened and giggled along with the older two (8 & 9 years old). And as a mom the book held many fabulous lessons from dealing with pressure at school to the amazing ability kids have to make a difference in our world. It also covers basic scientific method in such a way that you don’t even realize you’re getting a bit of a science lesson as you go. But over all its a fun, inspiring read. It doesn’t have illustrations but with a decent sized font and manageable chapters I think its a reasonable read for a strong second or third grade reader without any problems. Or, do what we did and read it together!!

We received complimentary copies of the series to facilitate our review.