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Read Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing (2004)

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (2004)

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Rating
4.77 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
0425193799 (ISBN13: 9780425193792)
Language
English
Publisher
berkley

Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing (2004) - Plot & Excerpts

This is a book that I read as an eight year-old kid, and now I have read it with my own 8 year-old son for the Oregon Battle of the Books contest. I enjoyed this just as much the second time around, and my son loved it as he has a much younger sibling and can relate to Peter's frustrations. Also, this is Judy Blume, so crazy antics and laughs abound. The only problem: it left my son wanting a pet! My favorite part of this book is all the material that older children with younger siblings can relate too. There's simply a dearth of justice when an 8-10 year-old is dealing with a two year-old sib, and the perceived favoritism of parents is hard to avoid. The themes of friendship, family, pets, and coping with all of the above are timeless, and the presentation stands the test of time as well. It's hard to believe some of this stuff is turning 30...The spoilers below are character notes for my OBOB team.****SPOILERS****The Hatchers:Peter Hatcher - protagonist and narrator. Peter is in 4th grade and saddled with a 2 1/2 year-old brother nicknamed Fudge. Fudge always seems to come out with acclaim, while Peter is left to feel like a lame, run-of-the-mill 4th grader with no claim to fame. Farley Drexel Hatcher - Peter's little bro, also known as Fudge or Fudgie. Fudge is a natural at finding trouble, and much of the novel centers around his travails. From busting his front teeth out thinking he can fly, to eating Peter's beloved turtle, Fudge is often in trouble and makes multiple trips to the hospital. Fudge also has some unmitigated successes, such as starring in the Toddle Bike commercial. Memorable events: • Scares off Mr. and Mrs. Juicy O and embarrasses them by showing that they got Peter the picture dictionary that he already passed on to Fudge. • Refuses to eat until he is told to act and eat like a dog. • Birthday party is a workout for Mom and Peter. • Loses front teeth trying to fly off a jungle-gym while Sheila is supposed to be watching him with the help of Peter and Jimmy Fargo. • Gets lost in a movie theater trying to touch bears on the screen and is inadvertently cast as the toddle bike rider. • Fudge destroys Peter and Jimmy's poster for their school project and Peter needs a lock for his room. • As a finale, Fudge breaks into Peter's room and eats Dribble the turtle. He has to go to the hospital and consume castor oil and milk of magnesia until he eventually expunges Dribble. Poor Dribble does not survive the ordeal.Anne Hatcher - mother of two Hatcher boys. Mom features as the primary caregiver to both boys and Husband. All are basically lost without her.Warren Hatcher - father of both boys. Works for an advertising agency, which leads the the Juicy-O debacle and to Fudge's casting as the Toddle-Bike rider.Grandma Hatcher - Anne's mother. Stays with Peter while Fudge is in the hospital with Dribble.Dribble - pet turtle that Peter wins at Jimmy Fargo's birthday party. All the other kids received fish, and Peter won the grand prize of a turtle. Dribble's time is marked with Fudge around, and he is eventually consumed by the boy.Turtle - a puppy that Peter's parents get him to make up for Fudge eating Dribble. Peter names him Turtle so he will never forget.Friends:Jimmy Fargo - Peter's best friend. He lives in the same building as Peter. They end up working together with Sheila on their transportation presentation.Sheila - lives in the same building and is nemesis to Peter and Jimmy. Also was helping watch Fudge and was too busy arguing with the boys to stop Fudge from flying off the jungle gym.Henry Bevelheimer - elevator operator in Peter's building; seems to have a nice connection with Peter.Ralph, Jennie and Sam - Fudge's original friends who live in the same apartment building and come to his Birthday party. Ralph loves food, Jennie is a biter (and also urinates on the rug), and Sam is afraid of everything. Others:Mr. and Mrs. Yarby - The Juicy-O company president and wife, from Chicago. They stayed at the Hatchers' apartment, which resulted in Fudge unwittingly causing trouble with them. This leads to the Yarbys becoming furious with the family, leaving for a hotel and taking the Juicy-O account with them. Mr. Hatcher is not concerned as Juicy-O sold poorly and, in reality, sucks. Mr. Vincent - the Toddle-Bike company President that discovers Fudge and ordains that he is the Toddle-bike rider. He says he'll pull the account of Fudge does not star. It takes Peter first riding the bike to finally coax Fudge into performing. All the while Warren is reminding Mr. Vincent that it was not his idea to cast Fudge.Janet - Secretary to Warren's father. She offers Goldfish crackers and Oreo cookies to the boys. She kisses Peter for convincing Fudge to complete the commercial, but Peter thinks her kisses are too wet.Mr. Denberg - Mr. Hatcher's boss and Toddle-bike commercial director.Dr. Cone - Peter and Fudge's doctor, who administers medicine to Fudge in an effort to expunge Dribble.Dr. Brown - Peter and Fudge's dentist. Assists when Fudge knocks his front teeth out.Mrs. Rudder - neighbor living below the Hatchers.

1. What is the main idea? Peter's view from his 4th grade life.2. What is a fact? Jimmy is Peter's friend.3. What happened after Jennie peed? Mrs. Hatcher got angry.4. Why did Sam cry? Because Fudge didn'tlike his present.5. What is the same between Jimmy and Peter? They are friends.6. What will happen next? Jennie pees.7. What does mugged mean? Robbed.8. You can tell that Peter is serious.9. What is an opinion? Shiela is bad.10. What is a lesson? Family comes first.11. What does tinkle mean? pee.12. What can't happen? Peter kills Fudge. 1. What is the main idea? Peter's view from his 4th grade life.2. What is a fact? Jimmy's last name is Fargo.3. What happened after Jennie's balloon popped? Sam got scared.4. Why did Sam cry? Because Jennie's balloon popped.5. What is the same between Jimmy and Peter? They are in the same school.6. What will happen next? Fudge gets into the TV.7. What does barber mean? Someone who cuts your hair.8. You can tell that Peter hates Sheila.9. What is an opinion? Shiela is bossy.10. What is a lesson? Be nice.11. What does sparkle mean? Shine.12. What can't happen? Peter becomes an alien.1. What is the main idea? Peter's view from his 4th grade life.2. What is a fact? Jimmy's name is James.3. What happened after Fudge fell? He got hurt.4. Why did Fudge fall? He was pretending to be a bird.5. What is different between Jimmy and Peter? They have different last names.6. What will happen next? Fudge rides the toddle bike.7. What does waitress mean? Someone who works at a resturant.8. You can tell that Peter is a good boy.9. What is an opinion? Jimmy is a smart kid.10. What is a lesson? Don't be bossy.11. What does two is a crowd mean? Crowds of people like babies who are age two.12. What can't happen? Peter becomes Shiela.1. What is the main idea? Peter's view from his 4th grade life.2. What is a fact? Peter thinks Fudge has fangs.3. What happened after Fudge ate the turtle? He started banging pots and pans.4. Why did Fudge go to the doctor? Because he ate the turtle.5. What is different between Jimmy and Fudge? Jimmy goes to schooland Fudge does not.6. What do you think will happen next? Fudge will not eat the dog.7. What is medicine? Stuff that you take when you are sick.8. You can tell that Peter likes his turtle.9. What is an opinion? Jimmy did a good job on the project.10. What is a lesson? Don't worry.11. What does tales of a 4th grade mean? Stories in the fourth grade.12. What can't happen? Peter becomes Jimmy.

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

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