HAPPY
100th POST
For the record, I did not plan to make it all the way
to 100 posts when I first started this blog. I didn’t plan to get so into it.
But I did so here we are.
These are the best books I’ve ever read so I had to
have them as my 100th post. I’ve read them so many times I have them
memorized. I love them so much that I named my dog after Fudge. I didn’t
realize when I was young that these books were a series and only knew about the
third one (Fudge-a-Mania), which by the way is my favorite one. It wasn’t until
later on that I learned that ‘Tales of a
Fourth Grade Nothing’ was the first book in the series.
These books still make me laugh to this day and I’m 23.
It doesn’t matter what age you are; these books are just plain funny. My mom
and I have listened to each of them a hundred times at least and my mom still
laughs at them like she’s listening to them for the first time.
Fun for
the whole family
Tales
of a Fourth Grade Nothing (First
Published 1972)
Life with his little brother, Fudge, makes Peter
Hatcher feel like a fourth grade nothing. Whether Fudge is throwing a temper
tantrum in a shoe store, smearing mashed potatoes on the walls at Hamburger
Heaven, or trying to fly, he’s never far from trouble. Fudge is an almost
3-year-old terror that gets away with everything, and Peter’s had it up to
here!
Ironically, I didn’t read this book until 4th
grade. It was a class reading book meaning the teacher would read it to us and
sometimes the students would have to read aloud. This was difficult for me
because I don’t like the sound of my own voice very much. After reading this
book, all my questions about ‘Fudge-a
mania’ were answered.
Otherwise
Known as Sheila the Great (First
Published 1972)
When Sheila’s family spends the summer in Tarrytown,
Sheila has to face some of her worst fears. Not only does a dog come with the
rented house, but her parents expect Shelia to take swimming lessons. Sheila
does her best to pretend she’s an expert at everything, but she knows she isn’t
fooling her new friend, Mouse Ellis, who happens to be a crackerjack swimmer
and a dog lover.
In this book, we get to see the world through Shelia
Tubman’s eyes. I’m going to be honest with you all, I really don’t like
Shelia’s character. I think it’s because she doesn’t like dogs. I don’t
understand why Shelia is so scared of dogs. I love dogs. A border collie bit me
when I was 3 and I still love dogs. But just because I don’t like this story
doesn’t mean you will. You’re welcomed to read this book if you want to.
Superfudge
(First Published 1980)
12-year-old Peter Hatcher learns that his mother is
going to have a baby and that the whole family will be moving to Princeton for
a year. He’s worried about starting 6th grade in a strange place and
going to the same school as his younger brother, Fudge. But Peter is much more
concerned about this new baby turning out to be just as big a nuisance as
Fudge.
This book introduces a new member of the Hatcher
family, Tamara Roxanne Hatcher. Or as they call her Tootsie. We are also introduced
to a new pet, Uncle Feather the myna bird, who is my second favorite character
next to Fudge. When I was a kid I had a toy parrot that repeated everything you
said and I called it Uncle Feather. I wonder what ever happened to that thing.
Oh well.
Fudge-a-Mania
(First Published 1990)
Fudge is back and driving his brother Peter crazy, as
usual. This 5-year-old human hurricane is more trouble than ever His latest
plan is to marry Peter’s sworn enemy, Sheila Tubman. But Peter’s problems are
about to get worse. His parents have decided to share a summer house, in Maine
with the Tubmans. And Peter will be stuck with Fudge and Sheila for 3 whole
weeks!
As I said before this one is my favorite out of all of
them and is the funniest one in the whole series, in my opinion anyway. I’ve
probably listened to it on cassette a hundred times as a kid. This book has the
best stories and the best lines out of all the other books. From “Big Bird’s
not married!” to “Person overboard!” every word in this book is comedy gold.
Double
Fudge (First Published 2002)
“I love money,” is 5-year-old Fudge’s new theme song.
He’s going to dress as a miser for Halloween and has made big plans to buy the
entire world (or at least Toys R” Us). Fudge’s new obsession with cash is
driving his older brother Peter crazy! But life really spins out of control
when Peter and his family run into their long-lost relatives, the Howie
Hatchers of Honolulu, Hawaii. Now Peter has to deal with Flora and Fauna, his
annoying twin cousins who burst into song at the drop of a hat, and their weird
little brother, coincidentally named Farley Drexel Hatcher-just like Fudge.
Their names aren’t the only similarity, and before long, mini-Fudge is causing
just as much trouble as Fudge always has.
I actually own this book on cassette and have listened
to it at least a hundred times. Something you should know about these books is
that they don’t seem to have a specific time period. In the first book Peter is
in 4th grade and in the fifth book he’s in 7th grade, so
the books span about 4 years. But the first book, supposedly, takes place in
1972 so the fifth book must take place in 1976/1977. Right? WRONG! The fifth
book was published in 2002 and contains information that was not available in
the 1970’s. That thing being Harry Potter. The first Harry Potter book wasn’t
published until 1997 so how is Fudge reading the first Harry Potter book in
1976? I know I’m making a big deal out of this but I think it’s interesting.
This book also inspired me to visit to Washington D.C.
to see the Bureau of Printing and Engraving for myself (it’s worth seeing).
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