Arne Svingen is one of Norway's most prominent authors of children's and teen literature. With The Ballad of a Broken Nose, English-speaking readers will understand why. The novel is like a many-layered slice of cake: in every bite there's a mix of flavors, textures and mystery ingredients, adding up to a delicious read.
Twelve-year-old Bart Nuram--named for Bart Simpson so he, too, would be "a funny wise guy who'd get by in life"--walks the line between being mildly unpopular and being too weird, between boxing lessons and opera singing. Though most of Bart's public-housing neighbors are addicts or otherwise down-and-out, he finds "Ninety-nine percent" of them to be nice. Bart is remarkably philosophical: "No matter how bad things seem, there's always someone who has it worse."
Unfortunately, Bart's equanimity can't hold up to the trouble coming his way. His house of cards begins to topple when the pathologically indiscreet Ada--a pretty, popular girl who actually seems to like him--gossips about Bart's home life, which nudges him across the line into bully-bait terrain. Then, his obese, alcoholic mother is hospitalized on his 13th birthday. One would think this would be an excellent time for Bart's obsession with finding the father he's never met to pay off. But heroes come in unlikely forms in this story. Deliberately unobtrusive Grandma knows more than she's let on about their dire straits, and is right there when her grandson needs her.
Bart's dry wit, compassion, wry self-knowledge and unwavering loyalty to his mother make him a tremendously appealing protagonist readers won't soon forget. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor