Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Title: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Author: Judy Blume

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Summary: The main character talks about how he won Dribble, his tiny, green pet turtle at Jimmy Fargo’s birthday party. He guessed the closest amount of jelly beans that were in a jar. All of the other boys had taken home goldfish, but you could tell that they wanted a turtle, too. He named his turtle Dribble on the way home from the party. He lives at 25 West 68^th Street, which is an old apartment building but it had the best elevators in New York City. The elevator operator’s name is Henry Bevelheimer, but he lets the kids call him Henry. Henry knows everyone’s name in the building. He knows that the boy in nine and he is in fourth grade. When he went home to show his mother the new turtle he had won, she was very surprised and immediately, she said that she didn’t like the way he smelled. The boy’s name was Peter. At dinner, Peter’s mother smelled Dribble and immediately told Peter to go and wash his hands. This wasn’t Peter’s biggest problem. His biggest problem was his little brother, Farley Drexel Hatcher, but everyone called him Fudge. Fudge is always in Peter’s way and the only time Peter likes Fudge is when he’s sleeping. One night, their father came home and told the family that Mr. and Mrs. Yarby would be spending a few nights at their house. Mr. Yarby is the president of the Juicy-O company and he lives in Chicago. They were going to stay in Fudge’s room, which meant that Fudge was sleeping in Peter’s room. The next day, Peter’s mother spent the whole day cooking in the kitchen. Fudge loved being in there, banging pots and pans together making loud noises. That afternoon, Peter went to Jimmy Fargo’s and went back home at four o’clock. When he got home, his mother noticed that she had been missing two flowers, and she found out that Fudge ate them. She immediately called the doctor, Dr. Cone, and she gave Fudge medicine. Peter decided to try a flower too, but he didn’t like it. When the Yarby’s were over, they brought Fudge a train car that made a lot of noise, and the brought Peter a picture dictionary, of which he already had. They put Fudge to sleep, but he came back out, carrying a book-it was Peter’s. Next, he came in carrying Dribble, and nobody liked that idea. His mother excused herself and brought Fudge back to his room…until dessert. Fudge came out in a gorilla mask from last Halloween. Finally, Peter got to bed around ten o’clock. Fudge was sleeping. The next morning, Peter awoke to Fudge standing over him and Dribble crawling up his arm. Peter jumped out of bed and smacked Fudge on his backside, hard. Their father came in and told them both to go back to sleep. Peter fell asleep for another hour, until he heard Fudge playing the car that he had just gotten. It woke everyone up, including the Yarby’s, but after all, it was a present from them! Next, Fudge went into the room with the Yarby’s and put green stamps all over their suitcases. They were furious. The next week, Peter’s dad came home and threw out everything Juicy-O. Truth was, him and Peter didn’t even like it! Peter’s dad was now in charge of a new TV commercial for Toddle-Bikes. Peter learned to stand on his head from his grandma, thinking maybe he could have a part in the commercial, but he wasn’t needed. Right after he learned to stand on his head, Fudge stopped eating. Their mother got nervous after a few days so she called the doctor, and he said not to worry about it and that Fudge would eat whenever he’s hungry. For one time, he ate because he was laughing at Peter with his mouth open, and their mother fed him. After that, they were out of luck. At dinner, Fudge would hide under the table. His mother tried feeding him under there, and he ate two bites of his dinner. Nothing was working. Fudge would say he wanted cereal and then he wouldn’t eat it. One night, his father got sick of it. He took Fudge into the bathtub with cereal, stood him up, and poured the cereal on top of him. From then on, the rule was: “Eat it or wear it!” Since the family lived near Central Park, Peter would like to play there after school, but never alone because his mother wouldn’t let him. He usually went with Jimmy Fargo, who had been mugged three times-twice for his bicycle and once for his money, which he had none of anyways. Peter had never been mugged. Peter’s father had gotten mugged once in a subway by two girls and a guy. On Sunday’s, the traffic would be blocked off and everyone rode their bikes, even Fudge rode his Toddle-Bike. In Peter’s class at school, there is Jimmy from his block, and a girl named Sheila, but Peter doesn’t like her because she is annoying to him. One day, Peter and Jimmy went to play with this one group of rocks that they always play with, but Sheila was already there playing with them and she wouldn’t give them up. Suddenly, they all saw Fudge and Peter’s mom, who had forgotten something at home, so Sheila offered to babysit Fudge. Peter’s mother said okay as long as the three of them all watched Fudge and they stayed by the playground, so they did. Peter, Jimmy and Sheila got caught up with each other and Fudge tried to fly off of the playground. He soon realized that he didn’t have wings and he fell. He was bleeding all over and he lost his two front teeth. When Peter’s mother came back, she was so worried. She called the doctor and the doctor said to go to the dentist, who said that Fudge would have to wait until he was six or seven to get his adult teeth in. When they got home, Peter’s mother was horrified with him, thinking it was his entire fault. They talked about it and she then realized that it wasn’t something to be angry over. Peter began to call Fudge “Fang” because of his missing teeth, but he stopped that soon because his mother didn’t like it. Fudge was turning three and they wanted to have a birthday party for him. They invited three other children over, named Jennie, Ralph and Sam. Their father couldn’t make it because he had a Saturday business appointment. Ralph arrived first. Peter says he was fat, and he went straight for the food in the kitchen. Jennie came next. She was wearing old clothes, but she held a pocketbook, and had on white gloves and party shoes. Her mother told Peter’s mother that she was having an issue with biting people, but if it didn’t go through the skin, it wasn’t dangerous. Sam came last. He didn’t want to stay, but he was okay. They lit the candles and sang “Happy Birthday” to Fudge. Each kid got a Dixie Cup, a small piece of cake and some milk. Peter and Fudge’s grandma was over to help, and Jennie bit her hand. It didn’t break her skin, so she knew it wasn’t dangerous, but she put medicine on it just in case. Fudge opened his presents and everyone watched. He got a jack-in-the-box from Jennie, a windup car from Ralph and a picture dictionary from Sam (that he didn’t like). Then, the doorbell rang and it was Mrs. Rudder, who lives below them, wondering what all the noise was about. She stayed for a little while. Peter showed the kids Dribble to keep them occupied. Next thing you know, Jennie went to the bathroom on the floor, purposely. Finally, it was two-thirty and the party was over. Ralph’s mother came and woke him up to go home. Next, Jennie’s mother came and Peter’s mother gave her mother the clothes she had worn. Sam’s mother came last but he didn’t want to go home. Finally, the birthday party was over! Fudge got a new bed for his birthday. He really liked it. The only problem was that he fell out of it every night, so they moved the bed to be against the wall and surrounded the outer edge of it with chairs. The next Saturday, Fudge had to go back to the dentist for a checkup. Peter was forced into going, but he didn’t want too. Peter felt that all the attention was always on Fudge. When Fudge was called in to the dentist’ office, he refused to open his mouth, so the nurse came and got Peter. Peter went in and showed Fudge that it wouldn’t hurt, and finally, Fudge opened his mouth “just like pee-tah.” After the dentist, they went to Bloomingdale’s, where they buy their shoes. There is one salesman that their mother likes a lot, and his name is Mr. Berman. Peter was getting loafers and Fudge was getting brown-and-white saddles. Peter got the perfect size, but Fudge did not want to try on new sneakers. He threw a tantrum in the store and everyone stared. They played a joke on Fudge. They made Peter try on shoes that Fudge was getting because Fudge would only get them if they were like Peter’s Needless to say, it worked. They bought the sneakers and left Bloomingdale’s. For lunch, they went to Hamburger Heaven. Fudge sang “eat it or wear it” and he dumped his food all over him. They took a taxi home and Fudge fell asleep. Peter swore he wouldn’t spend another day with Fudge again. In January, at school, Peter’s class was assigned a project on The City, by their teacher, Mrs. Haver. They were put in committees by where they lived, so Peter was working with Sheila and Jimmy. They met at Peter’s house. Sheila took charge and told the boys what they were doing and they agreed that she would write, because she had the neatest hand writing. Jimmy and Sheila needed to be home for supper, so they split up to do their own work and Peter washed for supper. The next day, Peter came home after school to work on the project. Fudge was sitting in his room and went under Peter’s bed and pulled out the poster. He has scribbled all over it with every color magic marker. Peter’s mother came in and apologized. Peter told her that he can never do anything at home, because Fudge always messes it up. Peter’s mother bought him a new poster-board the next day and he and Jimmy had to do it all over again. They finished by five o’clock. Sheila wrote her name all over it and the boys got mad, so she made her name into sixteen flowers and it was fair again. That night, Peter showed his parents the poster and they liked it. Fudge was in Peter’s room again, with marker all over his face and he cut his hair with scissors, so he had to go to the barber the next day with his mother. Peter’s dad came home that night with a chain latch for Peter’s door so he could reach it when he stood on tip-toe, but Fudge couldn’t reach it! At school, the boys and Sheila did their presentation first. Mrs. Haver said that they did a super job. Peter’s mother’s sister, Linda, just had her first child, so Peter’s mother was going to visit her in Boston, but nobody was going with her. She made sure that Peter would help his father take care of Fudge, but peter knew that his dad didn’t care about him staying up late at night or keeping clean, so he wasn’t worried. He didn’t have school that Friday because the teachers had a meeting, but he went to work with his father. Peter and Fudge went on a tour of the building with their father’s secretary. She took them to a room full of children who were waiting for audition to be in the Toddle-Bike commercial. Mr. Vincent, the president of the company, came over and took Fudge and thought he was perfect…but Fudge was trying out. Mr. Vincent told their father that either Fudge was in the commercial, or he was taking his account to a different agency. Mr. Hatcher said okay, and the commercial had to be done that day, otherwise Fudge wouldn’t be available. They said that peter could watch the commercial. Peter thought to himself that everything good always happened to Fudge, and never him. Fudge refused to move on the Toddle Bike for the commercial. They tried everything, even cookies. Their next option was similar to the plan at the dentist. Peter rode the bike, and got a cookie. Fudge rode the bike after him and said “just like pee-tah!” The next afternoon, the three of them walked to the movie theater in the rain. Fudge splashed in every puddle and his pants were soaked by the time they got to the movies. In the movies, Fudge kept quiet because Peter told him he had to, but then he started throwing popcorn. When the movie started, Fudge sat still and watched. Peter looked over throughout the movie, and Fudge wasn’t in his seat anymore. Peter, his father and two ushers looked for Fudge. Peter found him sitting on the floor. He wanted to touch the bears on the screen. At dinner that night, Mr. Hatcher made an omelet for Peter, Fudge and himself. Fudge, again, sang “eat it or wear it” and threw the omelet in the air, flinging eggs all over the kitchen floor. Finally, it was Sunday. They drove to the airport for their mother’s plane. Six weeks later, the commercial came on TV and there was Fudge, but they hadn’t told their mother of their weekend adventures. Peter looked at his father and started to laugh. May tenth was a special day for Peter. He went home from school, and his door was unlocked and Dribble wasn’t in his bowl. He asked his mother where he was and she didn’t know. Fudge giggled but didn’t answer Peter’s question. Fudge finally looked at Peter and said that he ate Dribble. Peter went off at his mother. Peter’s mother called an ambulance. The doctors showed Peter the x-ray and said that they gave Fudge medicine to get Dribble out of him. They said he might have to get a new turtle, but he didn’t want a new one. Finally, they got the turtle out. He wasn’t alive. The next day, Mr. Hatcher came home with a big box for Peter, but it wasn’t a turtle. Peter got a new dog, which would grow to be much too big for Fudge to swallow. He named it Turtle, to remind him.

Characters: Peter, Fudge, Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher, Jimmy, Sheila, Dribble, Turtle, Dr. Cone, dentist, Mr. and Mrs. Yarby

Plot: Get back at Fudge

Theme: Peter hated his brother, Fudge, because he always got what he wanted and all of the attention. Fudge was always in Peter’s way

Setting: school, Peter’s house

Opinion: I thought this was a fun book to read. It had a good point to it about Peter never getting his way, but he still helped out his brother. It was a cute book, and even though the ending was partly sad, it was happy as well.