What do You think about Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing (2004)?
There's absolutely a reason why this book continues to be widely read by readers of all ages, even so many decades after its original publication. The narrative voice that Blume gives Peter Hatcher is pitch-perfect, and his complicated feelings toward his naughty little brother will resonate with readers of a similar age. What I find so remarkable is that, rereading this book now, I can regard all the characters and their relationships with one another in a different, albeit no less real, light. In my eyes now, Fudge is no more or less troublesome than a typical toddler; whereas as a young reader I empathized with Peter and felt that he was wronged by all those around him, now I like and understand Peter no less, but I also am beginning to understand where the other characters come from, why they act the way they do. Just simply remarkable, that Judy Blume can write such a book that holds different emotions but equally important meanings for readers of all ages. She is like the Pixar of children's lit.
—Steph Su
I really enjoyed reading this book because it was funny with wacky and scenes that you can actually imagine in your head. I would recomend this book to a fourth grader beacause oviousley it says tales of the FOURTH grade nothing. And its just really fun and wacky and it has a scene with alot of blood in it. Also the pictures just go through my mind as if i was there. It's cool when you just see nothing but like a big movie screen in your head. Also because your like multi-tasking, reading, and imagining. It's kind'a cool if you think about it. I would say a 4 stars up and a good recondemation on this book. Even though its a good easy read whith i'll say about 120 pages. About a level 4 read. But over all it was a pretty good book that has alot of thinking and laughing and lots of fun and crazy times. I found it funny when he wakes up and his little brother is letting the turtle crawl on him the the big brother just wacks him in the back of the head the he screams loud. And how he is like a parents pet and then Peter the older brother is like nothing to them. This book was very descriptive and I found it amazing that the author actually took time to write the book and actually thaught about what words he was using and if it made sense and all sorts of writing stuff, such as language, spaces, periods, and capitilization. Im just glad I found a good book without like looking actually for like thirty minutes around the room for one and waste time. Above that all is that I enjoyed the book and the reader gave it four stars. I hope i can read more of Judy Blume's books. And if I have a chance and i have money on me I will definetley buy the series and find out more to the author and how he/she writes and if the author of the books is a good writer. Then i win defenitley buy the series of Judy Blume.
—David K
My brother and I are "Irish Twins", so we were in the same grade throughout our whole school career. He got all of the awesome, tenured teachers, whose students loved them so much that they still continued to visit them well into their middle and high school years; their classrooms had epic decor themes like "under the sea" or "summer fun."I was a straggler kid, looking in from the outside and always longing for what he had. My assortment of teachers were either (a) fresh out of college and trying experimental forms of teaching (ugh), (b) had extreme chips on their shoulders and were organizing unions to stick it to the man, or (c) filing for divorce. This equated to bare walls and zero pizza parties. The agony! Worst yet, we didn't read any of the cool books all the other classes were reading! I remember getting sick and tired of hearing of this baby named "Fudge" (of all the crazy names), and all the trouble that he got into, from some friends in other classes. So now, all these years later, I finally understand what all the hype was about, and for once it wasn't overstated. I LOVED Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing! Peter Hatcher, the 9-year-old protagonist, has a pretty great setup. He lives in New York City, close to Central Park, he's loving his 4th grade class, has nice friends...except his 2-year-old little brother, Fudge, keeps ruining things. He's a the cutest little monster you ever saw. I would have loved to have read this as a child, especially when my little sister came into the world when I was 8. I didn't like her. She was a cutie, but she just disrupted everything. I felt like no one understood where I was coming from, least of all my parents, who could see no wrong in anything that she did. That's the beauty of this book, because while it is hilarious and cute, it's not patronizing and adult. I love the relationship Peter has with his mom--she's a bit of a sarcastic wit, and I like that. One thing that made me laugh was when Peter was describing how cautious he had to be about walking in Central Park alone because of muggers and dope pushers. I thought to myself, this is not the NYC of You've Got Mail. This is the NYC of Klute in 1972! I will definitely be continuing with the series, and very soon.P.S. The Kindle book $2.99 in case you too are late to the game. Wink, wink...
—Eve
