Fudge Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Fudge Books
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing | (1972) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great | (1972) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Superfudge | (1980) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Fudge-a-Mania | (1990) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Double Fudge | (2002) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Fudge is a series of young adult and children novels by Judy Blume. Since she was a child in Elizabeth, New Jersey, she had been making up stories inside her head, something that has continued right up to adulthood. However, she now puts her stories down on paper and has made a name for herself for books such as “Just as Long as We’re Together,” “Blubber,” “It’s Me Margaret,” and “Are You There God?” Children know her from the “Fudge” series featuring the irrepressible character Fudge. Blume has also written adult fiction such as “Smart Women,” “Wifey,” and “Summer Sisters,” all of which have gone on to become bestselling New York Times titles. She has more than 80 million of her novels in print, which have been published in more than thirty languages across the world.
Judy attended New York University in 1961 from where she graduated with a bachelors in education. Among her accolades include the “Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement,” “Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters” by the National Book Foundation, and the “Living Legends Award by the Library of Congress.” She is also a member of several educational and philanthropic foundations and associations for writers and the promotion of intellectual freedom. Blume has also co-written the script for the “Tiger Eyes” that is a film adaptation of her bestselling title by the same name. She currently lives with her husband George Cooper on the islands on the East Coast.
In the Fudge series, Blume tackles the themes of friendship, courage, sibling rivalry, phobia and tons of other things that children have to go through in their journey to adulthood. The lead characters in most of the novels are Peter Warren Hatcher and his brother Fudge. The two brothers live with their parents in New York City west side in an apartment, where each brother has his own room. Peter is in the fourth grade and is nine years old while the irrepressible terror that is Fudge is a three-year-old child. Fudge from whom the novels get their name seems to have his parents under his thumb. He goes around causing havoc and being mischievous seemingly without any consequences for his actions. His parents seem to be totally clueless on how to deal with his behavior and they even find his actions a little cute. This gets on Peter’s nerves as Fudge causes a lot of ruckus everywhere including at home and at school and Peter often has to clean up after him. The lead in the second novel of the series is Sheila a ten-year-old girl and neighbor and nemesis of Peter. She loves to pretend to be the toughest girl around though she is, in fact, full of fears. She is afraid of everything from spiders, the dark, the pool and a lot of other things. The novels teaches kids how to deal with fears and a range of issues in childhood including how to overcome better children.
“Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” the first novel of the series focuses on the frustration of Peter Hatcher in dealing with his Fudge his two and a half-year-old brother. Peter hates that Fudge always disturbs his pet turtle Dribble, who is his most precious possession. Moreover, his brother goes on a bender abstaining from food, throwing nonstop temper tantrums and emulating Peter’s behavior. In all this, Fudge is never punished and his parents seem to dote on him even more leaving Peter outraged. The bad behavior goes on for months as his brother catapults himself from a jungle gym while pretending to fly and breaks all his front teeth. He also vandalizes Peter’s group assignment before breaking the movie theater. It does not stop there as Dribble comes home one day to find his beloved turtle gone from his bowl. Their parents believe Fudge swallowed him alive and rush the toddler to hospital where the turtle is removed. Mrs. Hatcher is relieved to get the turtle out of the toddler but for Peter it is just more pain and frustration with his younger brother. Seeking to assuage his devastation, his parents adopt a pet dog, which Peter names Turtle in honor of his dead turtle Dribble.
“Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great” the second novel of the series is about Sheila Tubman, a girl with more insecurities than you could count though she loves to present a confident and self-assured persona. Some of her biggest fears include aquaphobia, cynophobia, and arachnophobia. When her family takes a vacation to Tarrytown, New York she is sent to a day camp. At the camp she meets the courageous, easygoing and tomboyish girl Merle Ellis who seems to have a knowledge of every yo-yo trick. However, Sheila’s biggest concern is that there is a dog living with the family she is staying with, which means she lives in fear and avoids Jennifer the dog. Things get worse when Libby her sister shows an interest in adopting one of Jennifer’s puppies when the dog drops them in a few months. To her chagrin, she needs to start swimming lessons and is also charged with starting a camp newspaper, which flops due to her carelessness causing her to resign. She thought her masquerade was so effective but most people at camp are convinced it is all show and they slam her for it. Despite a lot of insults and a brawl, she slowly comes to recognize that the only way to get other people’s respect is to face her fears. She does it little by little and by the end of the novel she realizes that the actually did enjoy the summer vacation, even as she had to grow a lot.
“Superfudge” the third novel of the series sees the Hatcher family move to Princeton from New York City. They have a new baby named Tamara “Tootsie” and Fudge is full of jealousy as he is no longer the baby of the family. Peter still has to deal with a lot of problems brought about by the shenanigans of his brother Fudge who is trying to get rid of his sister. He is also constantly trying to budge into Peter’s activities, particularly when it involves Alex Santo a new friend that Peter has made. While he is still frustrated with his brother, Peter learns how much he loves his family even if they are not perfect. It is a great story that teaches children the value of family particularly how to deal with young siblings who may not be in a position to reciprocate love and respect.
Book Series In Order » Characters »