The Ballad of a Broken Nose

Growing up in a small Norwegian city, 13-year-old Bart is well aware that his life is less than ideal, but he’s determined not to dwell on his difficulties. So it takes some time for us to see the true contours of his circumstances in The Ballad of a Broken Nose, an uplifting coming-of-age story by Norwegian writer Arne Svingen.

Bart's depth and the beauty he finds in his world are winning and moving. Lovely and profound.

Svingen has taken home top prizes in his native Norway, and he makes his English-language debut with a novel that addresses difficult subjects with a gentle hand and understated humor ... With deftness and subtlety, Svingen shows a boy hanging onto optimism in the face of adversity and asserting his identity when he’s long relied on obscuring himself in the background.

Rooting for a genuinely good kid is universal, and readers will warm to Bart’s quirkiness even as they cheer his well-earned success.

The Ballad of a Broken Nose is a fun read and contains lessons about keeping problems in perspective and keeping an eye on the prize no matter how tough things get that would be useful for young readers. (…) Bart’s story is a motivational one and Svingen’s writing is very fun and easy to read

This could be one of the best children's books of the year ... an unusually exciting and funny story about an unusually sad teenage life. The language and characters are highly realistic, and the book is packed with striking one-liners and singular events.