Double Fudge
Double Fudge is a 2002 children's novel by Judy Blume and the fourth and final in the Fudge Series. The Hatcher family goes to Washington, D.C. where they spend time with their extended family, and Fudge finds out that his cousin is also named Farley Drexel Hatcher. His interest in money is a common theme throughout the story.
 First edition | |
| Author | Judy Blume |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Fudge Series |
| Genre | Children's novel and realistic fiction |
| Published | 2002 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 213 |
| ISBN | 0-525-46926-5 |
| OCLC | 49664589 |
| LC Class | PZ7.B6265 Do 2002 |
| Preceded by | Fudge-A-Mania |
Plot
In this latest installment of the Fudge Series, Fudge is still five years old and takes up an obsessive and greedy love for money, driving his twelve year old brother Peter insane,[1] and after some talking with his family, they decide to take him to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C. for a long weekend to show how it is made, hoping that his obsession would stop there. That plan doesn't work, and instead they meet up with their long-lost cousins, the Howie Hatchers. There is Howie, a park ranger who resides in Hawaii and is traveling the country, his pregnant wife, Eudora, their perfect, slightly overindulged twelve-year-old identical twin daughters, Flora and Fauna, who are sometimes nicknamed the "Natural Beauties" and the "Heavenly Hatchers," and last but not least, three-year-old Farley Drexel Hatcher, which is also Fudge's real name. Peter dubs him "Mini" and the nickname sticks. Peter's family is taken aback when the Howie Hatchers invite themselves to move in with Peter's family for weeks in their Upper West Side apartment.
Peter is also having a rough time throughout the story because his best friend, Jimmy Fargo, has left the Upper West Side and moved "far off" to SoHo on the other side of Manhattan, although they still get to go to the same school, where they're both in the seventh grade, while Fudge is in Mixed group, along with his new friend Melissa Beth Miller.
Near the end of the story, in a semi-homage to the ending of the first novel, Mini swallows Fudge's baby tooth that just fell out, making him furious at him because he was planning to get a dollar for it from the tooth fairy. After the Howie Hatchers leave with Mini for good, Fudge throws a temper tantrum over what Mini did, saying he hated him. Then Peter tells Fudge that he felt the same way when Fudge swallowed Peter's pet turtle, Dribble, in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Genuinely surprised at this news, Fudge apologizes to Peter for doing so and finally realizes that he hasn't been a very good brother to him.
The paperback edition contains an after-story interview with Judy Blume, who claims she has no definite plans, but may write yet another Fudge story, which, as of August 2020, is something that has not yet come to fruition.
References
- Kumar, Sohini (10 November 2015). "Children's books that have stood the test of time". The Boar. Retrieved 4 March 2016.