Nels (Norsk-engelsk lesebok serie) was created by James P. Jensen, who edited and translated its three titles. He wrote this about the project in 2005:

In the autumn of 2000, I began translating a couple of books from Norwegian to English with an eye toward selling them to an American publisher. I quickly became aware of the intricacies and difficulties that were a part of such a project. After coming to terms with initial frustrations, I came upon the idea of publishing good, popular Norwegian literature using the column-reference format. This format is not an original one — at least one edition of the collected works of Shakespeare uses something similar, and many editions of the Bible use a center-column reference — but it is not one that I found in use in language-study books. Yet, as someone who has spent many hours flipping through dictionaries as part of my studies of Norwegian, I thought it would be a beneficial device that would appeal to those who are interested in Norwegian culture and devoted to learning the language.

Publishing books, while allowing me to sidestep some problems, has its own worries. But of course owning and controlling a business has its own pleasures and delights. Yet, I will receive the greatest satisfaction knowing that readers will be able to enjoy these books in the language in which they were written, and that they will continue to learn Norwegian at the same time.