Fart Quest: The Barf of the Bedazzler

Author: Aaron Reynolds
Illustrator: Cam Kendell

© Date: 2021
Publisher: Roaring Book Press
Pages: 280
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: Many – most page layouts have an illustration
Publisher Recommended Age: 8-12
Bonus Activities at End of Book: Behind the scenes sketches with Cam Kendell, also mentions a game that can be downloaded

Summary from Book: After crushing their very first quest, young adventurers Pan, Moxie, and Fart are hungry for their next challenge. Luckily, the Great and Powerful Kevin has cooked up something for the trio: locate a bedazzler-a rare and monstrous creature of truly horrific power-and bring back…its barf.

But the danger in tracking down a bedazzler is hard to swallow. Rumor tells of a ruthless pirate captain who may be the only living soul that knows where to find a bedazzler. Our heroes must head to the high seas for a mission so deadly, they might lose their lives-or their lunch.

Page Pig Thoughts: Admittedly, the title of this book made me feel a little guilty reading it. With that kind of title, I thought the book had good potential for just being a simple, potty humor sort of book. However, the story was witty, imaginative, and kept me guessing. I was interested in this book for the Cam Kendell illustrations, which were top notch, but the words were every bit as much of a joy. The characters were also very relatable. “…He lurches at me before I can gather my wits. Joke’s on him. I don’t have any wits to gather.” I will definitely be reading another Fart Quest, but maybe not telling all of the other moms that is what I am reading. Hmmm…I am writing about it in my new blog… Guess I can freely tell everyone that Fart Quest is worth reading!

Family Unit: Seems like the family units would have been clear in the first book.

• Fart, the main character, somehow met his friends and battle companions, Moxie and Pan, at Krakentop Academy for Heroes. They had left the academy and were following their respective masters for wilderness training. Each of their masters died when they were vaporized by goblin magic in an attack gone horribly wrong. The Threesome decide not to return to the academy in shame and disgrace. So the trio goes out into the world to try heroic adventuring on their own.
• Fart mentions that he got kicked out of his family.
• Ticktock is a phibling that the trio already seemingly met in book one. The other phiblings made him leave their village because he liked to invent things and did not like being in muck.
• Bucket is a small ogre that they seemingly met in book one. the other ogres were not nice to him because he was different. Bucket was maybe put to sleep by a spell in the first book. When he woke up, the other ogres had left and he couldn’t find them.
  

Conflict/Social Issues:

1. Most of the conflicts seemed to be within each character as they struggled to find themselves.
2. Pan, a high elf, originally had an opinion that a group of muck elves did not know how to be proper elves.

Positive Items:

1. Fart, the main character, learns that using beginner spells does not make him a baby or any less of a hero or mage [if you are like me and unsure that is a word, it is in the dictionary, a wizard or sorcerer]. All abilities come with time and practice.
2. Pan, a high elf, learns not to judge people too quickly or harshly. The group encounters a clan of muck elves. Pan initially scoffs at the backwoods, dirty elves as not knowing how to be an elf. Peat Blossom, a muck elf, points out that elves value the elements, and muck is just water and earth. Pan really thinks about that and discovers that there is more than one way to be an elf, and no way is more right than another.
3. Moxie, a warrior dwarf, learns that her value as a warrior is not tied to one sentimentally special hammer. While she still needs time to accept the loss of the hammer (her last memory from her lost teacher/master), she discovers that her warrior heart is not tied to a specific weapon.
4. TickTock learns that he can be more than just a breakfast cooking inventor, he too can be a hero. Just because he is different than the other phiblings and they didn’t want him around home does not mean that he doesn’t have other valuable abilities.
5. Bucket, a small ogre, had been left behind by the other ogres. He was out looking for a new life when Fart, Moxie, and Pan cross his path. After finding his confidence on the quest, he is ready to accept his true calling as an artist.

Items of Interest:

1. Yes, there is potty humor. The main character, Fart, can cast a flatulence spell that causes an enemy to turn into a fart when he touches it.
2. Some of the characters could be kinda scary. A walking, talking, evil, immortal skeleton that has an icy touch is one example.
3. As the characters move through their quest, some of their enemies do die. This is not the kind of story where the bad guys are vanquished by being trapped in a Jell-O mold, weapons are used and bad guys die. Not gory, gruesome deaths; more like an immortal skeleton skull gets crushed into smithereens.
4. The hero adventurers get mugged in an alley. This was the first of several times in the book when Fart has a dagger at his throat.
5. While on a pirate ship, Pan is able to look past the dirtiness and cruel behavior to see the beauty in the organization of the ship. She appreciates how smoothly the pirates work together.
6. The book has a gaming vibe with achievement scrolls and experience points awarded to the questing characters. If I knew anything about Dungeons and Dragons, maybe I would see more of a connection. For me, achievement scrolls were just a fun addition.

Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):

• Fart Quest (Book 1) [Review]
• Fart Quest: The Dragon’s Dookie (Book 3) [Review]
• Fart Quest: The Troll’s Toe Cheese (Book 4) [Review]

   

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