The title of Ottawa teacher Kevin Bolger’s first novel says it all, placing the book firmly in the “disgusting bodily functions” genre. I suspect that the marketing money spent on the book – including, intriguingly, a hologram cover and scratch-and-sniff bookmarks – will be wasted, as the book will sell (or not) based on the title alone.

The book tells the story of a naughty young Prince called Harry who loves playing practical jokes. In the midst of all the mock-medieval silliness, Harry is thoroughly modern: at one point he is sternly told not to cut his food up with a fork but to eat properly with his fingers. Harry plays a joke on Sir Fartsalot, a questing knight who derives his name from eating nothing but turnips. Unfortunately for Harry, he then has to accompany the knight on the resulting quest, see the consequences of his actions, and learn from them.

That’s the story, but it’s not important. What matters in these books are the jokes, and Kevin Bolger keeps them coming thick and fast. Only a few are about the subjects referred to in the title, and many will cause the parents who are dragooned into reading them aloud to cringe. But some of the jokes are ones that only the adults will understand: rapid-fire plays on the words “encapsulated,” “domesticated,” “irreverent,” and “captivated” will go right over the heads of the kids.

Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger is Don Quixote for nine-year-olds, filtered through Captain Underpants and Monty Python. (An example of the latter influence is when Sir Fartsalot’s horse upsets a poor peasant child by stepping on her pet stick.) The accessibly short chapters are wonderfully enlivened by Stephen Gilpin’s black-and-white drawings, which often sprawl luxuriously over a couple of pages.

Those who don’t like this genre might be surprised, and those who do will discover an entertaining and fun example.