As a kid, I liked a variety of book series, but I was always looking for books that could make me laugh. It’s not easy to laugh out loud at a funny book. The tone, dialogue, and situation all have to be spelled out very clearly and very distinctly in order for the images in your head to be funny enough to get an external reaction.
Judy Blume is one such children’s author who can make this happen, particularly in her Fudge series. Rereading this series as an adult helped me to see the brilliance of her ability to write comedy, to write for children without talking down to them, and for readers to understand the situation she is trying to convey.
Below are my favorite moments from all five books in the Fudge series. These moments are often funny and always injected with some sort of lesson or commentary on what it’s like to be a kid.
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
The series kicks off with an introduction to the Hatcher family as told through the eyes of the oldest Hatcher child, Peter. Peter, his younger brother, Farley Drexel, aka “Fudge,” and his parents live in an apartment in the Upper West Side.
The book is full of episodic tales featuring Fudge’s antics which both irritates Peter and makes him feel invisible as Fudge swallows up all of the attention. The story is meant to show the love/hate dynamic between older and younger siblings. While the main plot points are funny to the reader, they’re not so funny to Peter who typically gets shortchanged by Fudge’s easy way of hogging all of the attention.
Fudge knocks his teeth out at the park
In chapter four of the series’ debut novel, Fudge is playing at the playground under the watch of Sheila Tubman, Peter’s neighbor, classmate, and arch enemy. Fueled by his bird obsession, Fudge makes a daring leap off of some playground equipment and lands face first, knocking out his front teeth.
This is such a relatable scene, particularly for older children who have likely all seen their younger siblings injure themselves in a playground setting. But does Fudge get in trouble? No. Does Sheila get in trouble? Also no. The reader then comes to realize that Fudge can do no wrong, and it gets you excited to see what hijinks he gets up to next.
Fudge gets lost at the movies
In chapter nine, Mr. Hatcher takes the boys to the movies for the afternoon. The movie they go to see is A Bear’s Life which Peter finds interesting, but he can’t enjoy the movie for long when he looks over and Fudge is not in his seat. The theater has to stop the movie to find him which embarrasses Peter. Later when they go home, Mr. Hatcher makes the boys omelets which Peter hates.
There’s something unusual about spending the afternoon with a parent who doesn’t usually take you on solo outings. They can’t foresee certain issues before they arise, like a toddler being unable to remain in his seat for the duration of a movie. It’s in these moments that an older sibling feels like they have to step in to coparent because they have more experience going out with their younger sibling in public.
Superfudge
Book two in the series is probably the most popular. In this sequel, a third Hatcher child, nicknamed “Tootsie,” is added to the bunch. Soon after, the family moves to Princeton, NJ while Mr. Hatcher takes a year-long sabbatical from the advertising industry to attempt to write a book.
This book kickstarts a tradition in the series of displacing its main characters into a new environment and creating hilarious conflicts that for them to resolve. That being said, as someone who grew up in the same house in the same neighborhood my entire life, it would have been scary to move to a new town and a new state, even if only for a year. So, I could relate to Peter all the more as I watched this experimental year unfold.
Peter tries to leave home
The story starts out strong in chapter one when Mrs. Hatcher drops the news to Peter that she’s going to have a baby. Without hesitating, Peter makes a beeline to his room and begins to pack, announcing that he will not endure another Fudge in his life.
It’s understandable that Peter would take this news hard. He is not a kid who thrives on chaos, and he has already seen what chaos younger siblings can bring. Luckily, his parents talk him down off a ledge and baby Tootise turns out to be a lot more likable and low maintenance than Peter thought.
Fudge’s first day of school
Though only four years old at the start of the book, Fudge is tested at a high intelligence level and permitted to begin school early. His first day of kindergarten in Princeton is already nerve wracking for both brothers, but when Peter gets called by the faculty to help deal with a meltdown, it throws the entire first day into chaos.
What’s interesting about this scene is how Peter is on Fudge’s side. The source of Fudge’s anger is his kindergarten teacher’s refusal to call him Fudge. This makes him so angry that he climbs up onto the top of the cubbies and refuses to come down.
The conflict is remedied by putting him in another class with a more flexible teacher. However, we begin to see Peter giving into and even condoning Fudge’s demands the way his parents do.
Anita’s anger
Peter’s best friend in New York, Jimmy Fargo, is the son of a painter named Frank Fargo. One day, Peter sees a painting by Frank Fargo in a gallery in downtown Princeton, and sure enough, it’s a high seller. The painting was apparently made by both Frank and his estranged wife after she threw paint onto the work in progress in a fit of anger.
For the longest time, I had remembered reading about a book featuring Anita’s Anger, but I couldn’t recall the name of the book. It was only while rereading Superfudge that it appeared and solved a decades-long mystery. I love how Blume works in these adult moments from a kid’s perspective and how it helps to deepen the characterization of what otherwise is just a fun kids book.
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
Sheila Tubman gets to be the star of this show as the story centers around her long-established fears and the overcoming of those fears over a summer away in Tarrytown. There, she faces her fear of dogs, storms, spiders, swimming, and especially, the fear of her fears being exposed to others, particularly her new friend, Mouse.
After reading this book as an adult, I couldn’t recall one thing about it, making me wonder if I ever did read this book as a kid. It would have been a great book for me because I share a lot of similar fears with Sheila, the fear of embarrassment being number one.
The first night at camp
The idea of spending the summer in Tarrytown sounds like a kid’s dream, but for Sheila’s first night, it’s a nightmare that encompasses chapter three of the book. Not only does their borrowed cabin come with a large, scary dog named Jennifer who is enclosed in a pen outside of her window, but there are also spiders that turns her borrowed room into a house of horrors.
This scene holds up to any comedic sequence in which a character is scared out of their wits by their new surroundings. Shelia takes everything to a 10 and isn’t afraid to let he parents know how much she hates the conditions that she has to endure.
The hayride through Tarrytown
Early on in the book, Mouse tells Sheila about the Headless Horseman and how The Legend of Sleepy Hollow story takes place in Tarrytown. This puts a new notch in Sheila’s belt of fears. And in Chapter 14, she and Mouse go on a Hayride through the town where they pass by the church that Mouse points out is the area where the Headless Horseman can be seen. It’s all too much for the scaredy cat from the city.
Though it doesn’t make sense to be offering hayrides in the summer, I love how this scene provides an overview of the town on streets I have personally walked. If I were Sheila, my friends also easily could have scared me while touring the town at night.
The swimming test
Throughout the summer, Sheila is forced to take swimming lessons to overcome her fear of the water. These lessons are a struggle as Sheila has difficulty even blowing bubbles without choking on water. By summer’s end, though, she is forced to swim across the pool on her own. It’s not pretty, but she gets the job done.
This is another comedic scene at the expense of our protagonist, and you can’t help but both laugh and feel sorry for her. I love that Sheila verbally fights her way through these lessons, but she ultimately does what she’s supposed to do. Would I trust her to save herself in a body of water? Probably not, but the point was that faced what scared her head on.
Fudge-a-mania
Book four in the Fudge series is one that I’m sure I never read as a kid. This installment is another summer story set in Maine where we see both the Hatcher and Tubman family sharing a home. There, the kids have mini adventures, the families bond, and, of course, the reader gets to come along for the ride.
Uncle Feather’s escape
Fudge’s talking bird, Uncle Feather accompanies the family on their summer vacation. In chapter five, Fudge lets Uncle Feather out one morning, and the kids are forced to go out looking for him. During the search, they run into Mrs. A who is confused as to how Uncle Feather is related to them.
This scene is your classic comedy scene featuring mistaken identity. I love how understanding Mrs. A is and how no one thinks to correct her when she believes that she is the children’s actual uncle. The search ends with a big twist as Uncle Feather is found swooping Sheila’s annoying older sister, Libby.
Planting rocks in the garden
During this trip, Sheila tries her hand a babysitting Fudge again. Now that they’re both older and engaged to be married, Sheila thinks it’s going to be a breeze, but Peter isn’t convinced. When he finds them planting rocks in the garden, Peter is sure that they’ll be in trouble. Instead, not only are the parents okay with it, but they end up dancing around the yard with the children. With no parent to dance with, Peter looks on dejectedly, but Grandma is there to comfort him.
This is one more example of Peter getting short-changed both physically and emotionally. While you shouldn’t revel in your siblings getting into trouble, Peter is always just looking for confirmation that they shouldn’t be able to get away with so much, and he’s once again left feeling like he’s the only one who isn’t understood.
Grandma and Buzzy Sr. get married
The summer ends with a bang as Peter’s grandmother and Sheila’s grandfather form an attachment during the summer and end up getting married while still on vacation. The ceremony becomes a backyard barbecue wedding, and everyone has a great time.
I love how Blume makes every word of her stories count. Every chapter is an adventure, and so much care is put into finishing them up on a high note. Peter spends a lot of this series frustrated, but there are moments of contentment, and I like to see him happy once in a while.
Double Fudge
Double Fudge is a somewhat controversial installment in the series because Blume transports her characters to a more modern day setting to fit the lives of her target audience at the time it was released in the early 2000s. Fudgie is now growing up too, and he’s obsessed with money which makes him a little superficial. To Peter’s horror, they also find out they have a cousin whose name is also Farley Drexel Hatcher, and when they meet, Peter finds that there are now two Fudges in the house.
Fudge leaves his shoe on the subway
When Jimmy Fargo moves to SoHo, Mr. Hatcher takes Peter and Fudge on the subway to visit him. Of course, Fudge decides to leave one of his new shoes behind on the subway, and they go on an extensive search to try to find it.
This is another classic younger sibling move. I’ve been there myself, and it is anxiety inducing when your sibling’s carelessness is about to ruin your day. Fudge has always done what he wanted, though, and you can’t expect anything less of him.
The cousins come to stay
After meeting their long-lost cousins in Washington D.C., the patriarch of the family, Howie Hatcher, weasels his way into inviting himself and his family to spend weeks at Peter’s apartment in New York. This high-maintenance family gets on Peter’s and his family’s nerves, and they are more than overjoyed when they finally leave.
We’ve all been stuck with either relatives or acquaintances that we can’t escape, though I’ve never had to deal with such annoying people for such a long amount of time. I love how the Hatcher family is all in this together collectively hating the other Hatcher family to the point where they feel like they’re going to go insane. It’s so relatable, so horrific, and ultimately, so funny.
Stuck in the elevator
In chapter 15, both Fudges and a neighbor named Mrs. Osterman get stuck in the elevator in the building on Halloween. While trapped, they use an intercom system to let others know that they are okay.
Though not as dramatic as the climaxes of the other books, the elevator incident allows Fudge to take charge and handle the situation with his own flavor of Fudgeness. He even comes up with code names for each of the trapped riders, and it shows how much he is growing up but still the same old Fudge at the end of the day.
What are your favorite moments from the Fudge books? Leave your answers in the comments below.
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