History Literature / Fudge

Not to be confused with the TabletopRPG of [[UsefulNotes/{{FUDGE}} the same name]], which is a precursor of ''UsefulNotes/{{Fate}}''.

* GiftGivingGaffe: In ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'', the Yarbys give Peter a picture dictionary intended for younger children, presumably out of ignorance. Peter kindly accepts the gift, but Fudge goes into Peter's room and returns with his copy of the book, a hand-me-down from Peter. Later on, Fudge receives ''another'' copy of the same book as a birthday present from his friend Sam and throws a fit. To be fair, Sam didn't know that Fudge already owned the book.

* TheComplianceGame: In ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'', after Fudge hides his baby sister Tamara "Tootsie" Roxanne, his big brother Peter gets him to show where she is by playing the "hot, cold" game (saying "hot" when he searches and gets close to finding her and "cold" when he gets farther away).

** Fudge initiated conflict with his kindergarten teacher Mrs. Hildebrandt, but Peter tells her she's being unreasonable, compared to Ms. Ziff who becomes a CoolTeacher and says Fudge must be as sweet as his name. Fudge calls Mrs Hildebrandt "Ratface" for insisting on addressing him as Farley. Despite Peter telling Fudge that it's rude to call a teacher that, he admits Mrs Hildebrandt ''does'' look like a Ratface and refers to her as such in later books.
* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Cousins Flora and Fauna Hatcher, also known as "The Natural Beauties" and "The Heavenly Hatchers."

* BigEater: Fudge's friend Ralph in ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'', in the fifth chapter "The Birthday Bash." He loves to eat and is so big and heavy that even ''his own mother'' cannot lift him. At the party, Ralph requests a second piece of cake, and Anne gets him one, even though Peter is unsure about it. Sure enough, Ralph vomits right after finishing the second piece of cake.

* BrattyHalfPint: Fudge fills this role, mostly because Tootsie is still a baby. Among his exploits are making a mess in a restaurant; jumping off of the jungle gym pretending to be a bird (this act breaks his front teeth and gets Peter in trouble); scribbling all over the school project that Peter, Sheila, and Jimmy had worked on for weeks; and then (after Peter persuaded his parents to let him get a lock on the door of his room) managing to unlock Peter's bedroom door and ''[[spoiler:eat his turtle]].'' Later, in ''Fudge-a-mania,'' he mocks Peter about it and then has the gall to get upset when Peter [[FoodSlap pours his punch over Fudge's head.]]

* CatchPhrase: Fudge's "Eat it or wear it!" and "All gone!" in ''Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing'' and Uncle Feather's "Bonjour, stupid!" in ''Superfudge'' and later books.

* TheComplianceGame: In "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing", after Fudge hides his baby sister Tamara "Tootsie" Roxanne, his big brother Peter gets him to show where she is by playing the "hot, cold" game (saying "hot" when he searches and gets close to finding her and "cold" when he gets farther away).

* CowardlyLion: Fudge's friend Sam in ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'', in the fifth chapter "The Birthday Bash." He fears many things, including birthday parties, cone party hats, the dark, jack-in-the-boxes and balloons.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Fudge [[WouldHitAGirl kicks his teacher]] for calling him by his real name.

* FirstPetStory: Peter caring for Dribble in ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.''

* FoulMouthedParrot: A G-rated version. Fudge is very proud of his myna bird, Uncle Feather, who can speak French. Any time someone addresses the bird, he responds by saying, "Bonjour, Stupid." It's also mentioned in ''Double Fudge'' that Uncle Feather loves swear words, but of course [[NarrativeProfanityFilter the words are never actually heard in the book]].

* InfantSiblingJealousy: Both Peter and Fudge fall into this to varying degrees when Anne is pregnant with and gives birth to Tootsie. Peter is initially worried that his new sister will be an encore of [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling Fudge]] and even ineffectually threatens to run away from home when he finds out about the pregnancy, but he comes around quick after seeing Tootsie for the first time. Fudge, however, is jealous at the fact that he's no longer TheBabyOfTheBunch, especially since this is around the time Warren and Anne start taking his uncalled- for deportment more seriously.

** For readers annoyed by how Anne and Warren Hatcher handled Fudge's misbehavior, this starts coming to a head in ''Double Fudge.'' By this point, Fudge is smart, but still too young for first grade, so he's in what's called 'mixed group.' The latest manifestation of his self-centeredness is his obsession with money. Peter warns his parents that it's getting to be too much and repeats something Sheila said about Fudge having no values, but Anne writes it off as another phase. Then his teachers sent him to the guidance counselor over it and called his parents in for a conference. Anne is absolutely humiliated by the teachers gently asking if they're having money problems at home and suggesting to her that she and her husband focus less on material items and start emphasizing how the best things in life are free. She asks Peter if ''he'' thinks they've been too materialistic and if he understands things like how all the money in the world can't make up for love and friendship, etc. They end up taking Fudge to Washington, D.C. to see the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to try and help him understand that money isn't just a conduit to happiness, and Fudge finally just asks the tour guide how you get more of it. Anne nervously tries to explain Fudge is just so interested in money, and the tour guide is like, "I get what you're saying, but someone has to set him straight." An older gentleman in the crowd steps forward and volunteers, giving Fudge a heartfelt speech about savings, investing, and retirement, and it goes completely over his head when he suggests "Or someone can just give it to you." Peter overhears someone in the crowd say "This kid is hopeless," and the tour guide just looks at Fudge and says, "You're going to love the gift shop. All the kids do."

* LostVoicePlot: During some time in "Double Fudge", Uncle Feather inexplicably stops talking, and for a while Fudge tries to cover it up by imitating Uncle Feather's voice when alone in his room at night. But then Uncle Feather gets his voice back as the result of a near-death incident caused by Mini Farley.

* NotSoAboveItAll: Nine-year-old Peter admits to himself that the toy car is brother got for his third birthday does look like a lot of fun. At age twelve, he sees his mother carrying both Tootsie and Fudge and briefly wishes he could be his mother's little boy again.

* PartingWordsRegret: In "Superfudge," when Fudge runs away after Peter refuses to take him on a picnic, Peter inwardly panics, imagining Fudge being hit by a car or drowning in the lake, and feels guilty about having been angry with him all morning. Fortunately, a moment later, Fudge is revealed to be safe at a local bakery.

* RevoltingRescue: In "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing", Fudge [[SwallowedWhole swallows Dribble the turtle]], so the doctors make him either excrete or vomit Dribble out by giving him emetics and laxatives. In the end, Fudge manages to purge Dribble out of his system, but it's not said whether he puked or defecated him out.

** Cousins Flora and Fauna also count, being named for the beauties of nature, and are often nicknamed "the Natural Beauties."

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: In-universe. ''Fudge-a-Mania'' has Peter and Fudge's little sister accidentally getting into Mr. Fargo's paint and wandering over his canvas, leaving behind little blue footprints. Mr. Fargo thinks it looks stunning and wants her to help him make more paintings. The paintings later turn out to be a huge hit, enough of one that the Fargos can move out of their one-bedroom apartment and into a new loft in Soho.

* GiftGivingGaffe: In ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'', the Yarbys give Peter a picture dictionary intended for younger children, presumably out of ignorance. Peter kindly accepts the gift, but Fudge goes into Peter's room and returns with a copy of the book that Peter already owns. Later on, Fudge receives ''another'' copy of the same book as a birthday present from his friend Sam and throws a fit. To be fair, Sam didn't know that Fudge already owned the book.

** Peter expresses worry about Fudge being in a "mixed-up" group for his first-grade class, actually a mixed group of kids. He reminds Anne that the teacher may be another "Ratface" who gives Fudge trouble for arbitrary reasons and the kid needs a good teacher. Anne reassures him that she and Warren thought about that and met with his teachers, a guy and a girl. Unfortunately, owing to the school's higher standards, Fudge's obsession with money causes them to ask Anne at a guidance counselor meeting if the family is financially struggling.

* ConvenienceStoreGiftShopping: ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'' has Peter being given a picture dictionary, which is more suitable for a preschooler than the preteen that he is. Ugh. At least he has enough tact to pretend to be enthused. Fudge, on the other hand, brings out their old copy of the same book; then when it happens ''again'' at his birthday party, he ''throws it across the room''.

* KarmaHoudini: Fudge. It really says something when most of the series' SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments consist of the adults actually punishing him. May be justified to a certain extent, given that he's a toddler, and little kids ''do'' tend to do stupid things on a regular basis.
** The worst instance was near the end of ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'' where he [[spoiler:eats Dribble, Peter's pet turtle, and there's visible evidence that he broke into Peter's room on purpose using a chair to reach his chain latch]]. While everyone is (understandably) worried about Fudge, no one seems to consider how ''Peter'' feels on the subject except for Dr. Cone. Peter eventually gets some acknowledgment for "being a good sport" throughout the whole thing and is given a dog, but Fudge is never punished in any way. Then again, being in the hospital for days while the doctors repeatedly feed you prune juice and other laxatives to make you poop isn't entirely unlike a punishment, especially with the ensuing threat of an operation.

* DinnerWithTheBoss: ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'' has Fudge wreak havoc at one of these (with Mr. Yarby, a client of Warren's advertising agency), and it's implied that the agency lost the account because of this, though the abysmal sales for the drink Juicy-O were also responsible. The connection is made more direct in the TV adaptation, with the episode "How Turtle Got His Name".

* IfItTastesBadItMustBeGoodForYou: Subverted with Juicy-O, a fruit juice made of a different variety of fruits. This excuse is put off as bunk when Peter's dad brings home a crate of the stuff, which Peter only drinks to make his dad happy, though his dad later reveals that he hates it as well. The stuff also doesn't do well in stores; apparently the combination of orange, grapefruit, pineapple, pear and banana juices doesn't taste very good.
* InfantSiblingJealousy: Both Peter and Fudge fall into this to varying degrees when Anne is pregnant with and gives birth to Tootsie. Peter is initially worried that his new sister will be a repeat of [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling Fudge]] and even ineffectually threatens to run away from home when he finds out about the pregnancy, but he comes around quick after seeing Tootsie for the first time. Fudge, however, is jealous at the fact that he's no longer TheBabyOfTheBunch, especially since this is around the time Warren and Anne start taking his bad behavior more seriously.

* DecemberDecemberRomance: In ''Fudge-a-Mania'', Peter's widowed grandmother marries Sheila's widowed grandfather, making the archenemies step-cousins. They agree to still politely hate each other, though.

** Subverted when Fudge [[spoiler:eats Peter's turtle]]. Everyone's concerned about him, but ''not one person'' comforts Peter over the fact that [[spoiler:his pet has been eaten -- his grandma even shouts at him when he understandably asks whether or not his turtle is alive]]. It isn't until after Fudge recovers that Peter's parents thank him for being a good sport about the whole thing and buy him a dog, since he had asked for one before and always wanted a puppy. This trope doesn't occur in the show's version of the incident, where, instead of yelling at Peter, his grandmother sits down with him and explains that [[spoiler:Dribble is dead]].

* TheDiaperChange: In the last chapter of ''Superfudge'', Peter is forced to change his baby sister Tootsie per his mother's request. Despite his initial disgust at the task, it becomes worth it [[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound when Tootsie speaks her first words during the change]].

* HardTruthAesop: The way the Hatchers politely turn down Flora and Fauna begging to stay with them evokes this, that sometimes you have to know when you can't help people. Peter thinks his twin cousins are embarrassing due to their tendency to start random song and dance numbers in public. A reader can see, however, that being raised by Howie and Eudora, who are strict with them while going easy on their little brother, has made them chafe under the DoubleStandard. Flora and Fauna beg to stay in New York when their family plans to go back to Hawaii and have another kid, even saying they'll babysit Fudge and do all the chores so they won't be a burden. Anne and Warren break it to them gently that they don't have space to take in two extra children, New York winters are no walk in the park for people used to colder climates, ''and'' it's unlikely that their parents would be okay with their two underage daughters being. a great distance away. They do promise, however, that if the girls want to come to New York for college, then they can help them get settled in the city.

Not to be confused with the TabletopRPG of [[TabletopGame/{{FUDGE}} the same name]], which is a precursor of ''UsefulNotes/{{Fate}}''.

Not to be confused with the TabletopRPG of [[TabletopGame/{{FUDGE}} the same name]], which is a precursor of ''TabletopGame/{{Fate}}''.

* LoudLastName: Mr. Yarby does this a couple of times with Warren in the second chapter of ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'' in response to Fudge's mischief.

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[[caption-width-right:313:Just being a part of this family is an adventure in and of itself!]]