List of Fudge series characters

The following is a list of characters in the Fudge series of books by Judy Blume about Peter Hatcher and his notorious younger brother, known by the nickname "Fudge". The books include Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, Superfudge, Fudge-a-Mania and Double Fudge.

Characters

The Hatcher Family

Peter Hatcher

A smart, impatient, sarcastic, and seemingly naive boy who lives in New York City. He is a kind and sensitive boy, but reveals a quick temper when provoked or impassioned. He often feels unappreciated and uncared for by his parents, mainly due to the amount of attention his brother requires. In the first book, he is nine years old and in the fourth grade, and in Double Fudge he is twelve and in seventh grade. He has a habit of imagining things, especially television advertisements (probably because that is his father's job). He likes to collect things, such as baseball cards. Peter tries to make it very clear that he despises his brother, but it is obvious that he truly cares for him.

Farley Drexel "Fudge" Hatcher

Fudge is Peter's little brother. Disaster follows him everywhere he goes, often making a spectacle of himself and setting a bad image to his family. Some of his best-known escapades in the series include throwing temper tantrums (most notably at the shoe store), fingerpainting with mashed potatoes at a diner, scribbling all over Peter's transportation committee poster, and ultimately, swallowing Peter's small pet turtle. Although Fudge is spoiled, will often throw tantrums, and act very immature, he later becomes very intelligent for his age (as first revealed in Superfudge). Later still, he becomes very imaginative like his brother Peter. Thus, he eventually develops from a spoiled and demanding toddler into a less spoiled and much kinder boy with a vivid imagination and a strong desire to learn things.

Tamara Roxanne "Tootsie" Hatcher

Peter and Fudge's baby sister, born in the third book, Super Fudge. Fudge is jealous and hates her in the beginning, even attempting to exchange her for things such as money or a two-wheeled bicycle. Right before the Hatchers move to Princeton Fudge hides her in a closet. Tootsie is rather playful, curious and likeable. Her first word that she ever spoke was "Yuck" when she hears Peter say it when he is changing her diaper. Then she says "Nu Yuck," when the family decides to go back to New York City. She eventually learns more words and likes to repeat what some people say. She especially likes to make animal noises when she hears somebody saying the name of an animal. In the third book, Tootsie walks across Frank Fargo's paintings before they dry, leading Fargo to create a whole series of paintings featuring Tootsie's footprints on canvas, called "Baby Feet." In Double Fudge, when the Fargos move downtown, the Hatchers learn she can't pronounce "sh".

Anne Hatcher

Mother of Peter, Fudge, and later, Tootsie. She is a stay-at-home mom who later becomes a professional dental assistant. She always does her best to be a mother to her children, although she tends to be more partial towards Fudge. She becomes related to the Tubman family when her mother, Muriel, marries Bertram "Buzzy Senior" Tubman in Maine.

Warren Hatcher

Father to Peter, Fudge and Tootsie. (Peter's middle name comes from his father.) He is in the advertising business and he writes commercials. His agency has had accounts with Juicy-O and the Toddle Bike company (for whom Fudge appears in a commercial), as well as with X-Plode Cereal (only mentioned by Fudge, though). In the first book, he dumps a bowl of cereal over Fudge's head when Fudge refuses to eat his meals and then wants to be fed like a dog. In the second book, he takes a leave of absence from the ad agency to attempt to write a book, called "History Of Advertising" but at the end of the second book gives it up altogether and returns to his old job in the advertising company. He grows a beard in Superfudge, but later shaves it off in Fudge-a-Mania.

Grandma Muriel

Anne's mother. She is known for using classic phrases and various tricks to help the kids. She originally was a gymnastics teacher, so she is very good at turning cartwheels, and agrees to teach Sheila Tubman how. In the third book, she marries Sheila's grandfather, Buzzy Senior, thereby uniting both the Hatcher and Tubman families. She is a very likeable, and agreeable person altogether.

Cousin Howard "Howie" Hatcher

Warren's long-lost cousin, both of whom were great friends. Howie seems to have some slightly rude behavior, as he calls Warren "Tubby" even though he's lost some weight since, and a rather crazy driver when it comes to golf carts, and easily gets frustrated. Howie works as a park ranger in Hawaii and plans to move his family to the Everglades. According to Peter, Howie says "no" to everything such as pop music, romance series books, TV, junk food, school, fashion magazines with advice to the lovelorn, etc..

Cousin Eudora Hatcher

Howie's wife. Like her husband, she calls Warren "Tubby." She also happens to be pregnant, and isn't as rude and strict as her husband, and is often the mediator between Howie and their daughters.

Flora and Fauna Hatcher

Howie's two perfect, identical twelve-year-old twin daughters. They are known for both finishing each other's sentences, and breaking it into song and dance routines in public, which impresses others but embarrasses Peter. They do seem to be some what spoiled, and usually beg and plead to get their way, while Eudora manages to present the case carefully to Howie. They are usually nicknamed the "Natural Beauties" (due to Flora meaning plant life and Fauna meaning animal life) and the "Heavenly Hatchers."

"Mini" Farley Drexel Hatcher

Flora and Fauna's younger 3-and-1/2-year-old brother, whom acts similar to Fudge's 2-year-old Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing behavior in many ways. Usually he will just growl and act like an animal, due to his older sisters trying to always comment on him and act as if he were non-verbal, but all that changed by the end when he finally made the point to the twins he can speak for himself. Fudge grows to dislike him, due to him nearly receiving the same nickname as Fudge, being the cause of Uncle Feather's broken wing, and ultimately swallowing Fudge's first loose tooth at their farewell dinner.

Friends and their Families

The Fargo Family

Jimmy Fargo

Peter's best friend. He is in the same grade as Peter and slightly older than he is, assuming that he celebrated his tenth birthday in the first book, and taller than Sheila. Jimmy and his family originally lived a few buildings down from Peter and Sheila, and then moved into Peter and Sheila's building, before eventually moving down to SoHo. In the TV series, Jimmy and his father are African-American.

Frank Fargo

Jimmy's father. He used to be an actor but became an abstract artist, judging from Peter's descriptions of some of his paintings. In "Superfudge" he and his wife divorced, which was very unsettling for their son. In a later book, Tootsie accidentally toddles across one of Frank's paintings, which inspires him for a new artwork series entitled "Baby Feet." Frank gets remarried to Beverly Muldour, a family friend of the Hatchers from their time in Princeton, New Jersey.

Anita Fargo

Jimmy Fargo's mother and the first wife of Frank Fargo. She is first seen in the first Fudge book at Jimmy's birthday party giving Peter his pet turtle, Dribble. She later divorced Frank Fargo after an argument during which she threw red paint at one of his paintings, to which Mr. Fargo took advantage to display, calling the painting Anita's Anger. Jimmy said that his mother loves kissing, so she moved from New York to Vermont, where Jimmy and Peter believe people engage in much kissing. Mrs. Fargo appears to have moved to a very rural community in Vermont, as Peter says at one point he is unable to contact Jimmy as he is visiting his mother in Vermont, and they had no telephone service there.

The Tubman Family

Sheila Tubman

Peter's rival (though Peter sees her as a "sworn enemy"). She lives in Peter's apartment building two floors below his own. Peter believes Sheila is a real know-it-all. She was the Queen Of Cooties even when she was in 4th grade. She gives up cooties sometime between the fourth and seventh chapters of the first book. She is incredibly bossy, which is especially evidenced when she tries to run a report committee (which Peter and Jimmy were also in) by herself. She has an older sister named Libby. In the second book, she exhibits a fear of dogs, especially Peter's dog, Turtle. There may be some chances of Sheila and Peter showing slight affections towards each other throughout the series, and it is obvious she has a small crush on him. Sheila becomes Peter's step cousin when her grandfather, Buzzy, and Peter's grandmother, Muriel, marry. In the book "Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great," Sheila meets her best friend, Mouse Ellis. She constantly fibs about her fear for many things, such as dogs, spiders, swimming, and the dark. But in the end, she confronts her fears and admits her weak side.

Libby Tubman

Sheila's older sister, who often is seen dancing in a leotard. She fancies herself as being very sophisticated and glamorous, addressing her parents as "Mother" and "Father." She is very interested in boys, and it is also shown she is not a great singer, when she does not get the part of Wendy in a production of Peter Pan. Mrs. Hatcher hires Libby to help watch after Tootsie when the demands of a baby and other parenting responsibilities get to be too much for her to handle at once. Her friend, when the Tubman lived in Tarrytown, is Mary Ann Markman. Libby is often annoyed by Sheila and her attention-getting, much like Peter could be with Fudge, and so, because of their shared situations, is often willing to try to get along with Peter. Libby becomes Peter's step cousin when her grandfather marries Peter's grandmother.

Jean and Bertram "Buzz" Tubman

Sheila and Libby's parents. Mr. Tubman is a college professor at Marymount College. They become related to the Hatchers when Mr. Tubman's father marries Anne Hatcher's mother.

Buzzy Senior

Sheila's grandfather, who ends up marrying Muriel at the end of Fudge-A-Mania, thereby uniting the Hatcher and Tubman families.

The Ellis Family

Merle 'Mouse' Ellis

Sheila's same age friend from Tarrytown that has noticeably lots of scabs on her legs. They are best buds until a game of slam book where they start fighting with Bobby Egran's models with the Van Arden twins, Sondra and Jane. Despite it all, Mouse and Sheila repair their friendship afterwards. She is the grand champion of Tarrytown in yoyo and is an expert swimmer. She was going to visit Sheila in Maine in Fudge-a-Mania, but was struck down with chicken pox and couldn't make it, much to the dismay of Sheila.

Betsy Ellis

Merle's little sister at age 4. She is a champion swimmer known to do perfect dives. She is allergic to dogs and carries around her "make-believe dog" (which is an empty candy box) Ootch.

The Manheim Family

Daniel Manheim

Fudge's new friend, introduced in Superfudge. He is described as pudgy, Jewish, with a lot of reddish hair, and ears that stick out even more than Peter's. Daniel is a bird expert, as seen in the beginning of Chapter 9 as he is lecturing Fudge on myna birds. He also delivers his tough-guy line: "Ya wanna make somethin' of it?" whenever asked of something. Once, though, after delivering his "tough-guy" line, Elaine, an acquaintance of Peter, agreed to "make something of it" and (playfully) challenged him to fight. Daniel then proceeded to chicken out. According to himself, he's 6 years old and lives at 432 Vine Street. He is a fussy eater; he constantly mentions that he does not like onions, lima beans, peas, Oreo cookies, or bread crusts and only drinks chocolate milk. Daniel lives in Princeton in the books, but in the TV series, Daniel lives in New York City (presumably in the same building as the Hatchers) and replaces Ralph in Fudge's group of friends invited to his birthday party. Also in the TV series, Daniel wears glasses and is 5 years old, but still retains his tough-guy attitude.

Mrs. Manheim

Daniel's adoptive mother, who is heavily concerned about her son. She drives a red sports car.

The Muldour Family

Mrs. Muldour

One of Peter's new acquaintances. She is an elderly woman who lives near Peter also is to be believed that she eats worms as Peter and Alex dig them up for her.

Beverly Muldour

A pretty young woman Peter first sees when she is working at an art gallery in Princeton. Due to her plunging neckline Peter secretly refers to her as "Giraffe Neck". It is later revealed that she is the daughter of Mrs. Muldour and is a big fan of Frank Fargo's paintings for their originality. She eventually becomes Frank Fargo's second wife and Jimmy's stepmom.

Mitzi and her family

Mitzi

Friend of Fudge's whom he met on vacation in Maine. She is obsessed with Fudge, and develops a crush on him. According to Fudge, she keeps monster spray and has a baby brother called Jacob. She is also the granddaughter of famous baseball player Big Apfel.

Mrs A

Mitzi's grandmother and Big Apfel's wife. She makes Mitzi's monster spray for her and makes really tasty cocoa. Peter and Fudge first meet her when they go round the neighbor's houses asking if the neighbors have seen Uncle Feather. Mrs A originally thinks Uncle Feather is Peter and Fudge's uncle. It is never mentioned if she is ever corrected.

Big Apfel

Famous baseball player who Peter is astounded to find is his new neighbor in Maine. Peter seriously looks forward to playing a game with him as there is a weekly softball game. However, Peter's enthusiasm is tempered when Big Apfel says he has aged since his Red Sox days and takes a more relaxed attitude to the community softball game, seeing it more as a friendly get-together as opposed to the Yankee-Red Sox intensity Peter had read stories about.

Others

Mrs. Reese

The Tubmans' next door neighbor.

Henry Bevelheimer

The elevator operator, whom seems to know everybody in the apartment. Henry and Peter get along very well. On one occasion (in Superfudge), he scolded Peter for siccing Turtle on Sheila after she and Peter got into an argument. In Double Fudge, he helps out with Uncle Feather's brief period of being unable to talk, and is then later promoted to superintendent of the building and converts the elevator to self-service. In the TV series, Henry is the janitor and handyman of the building.

Jane and Sondra Van Arden

A set of twin sisters that also live in Tarrytown that are friends with Sheila and Mouse. Sondra is amply contoured, sensitive and shy, is a great swimmer despite her size, and usually comes up with good ideas. Jane is more aggressive than her sister, and is also more rude, and much thinner than Sondra. During their slam book game, Sondra is deeply offended by her friends calling her a "fat slob" and "crybaby," and Jane is equally offended because she got some negative criticism as well.

Ralph, Jennie and Sam

Fudge's original friends who live in the same apartment building. In the TV series, Ralph does not appear, but Jennie and Sam do. Jennie and her family are from Chinese descent in the TV series.

Alex Santos

Peter's new friend, introduced in Superfudge, as very small, with hair that hangs into his eyes, and seems to be a fan of Princeton University as he is often seen wearing a T-shirt that says "Princeton, Class of '91". He is a Boy Scout and was away at Scout camp when Peter first moved to Princeton. He collects worms for Mrs. Muldour, an elderly neighbor, and Peter soon joins him in that business.

Joanne McFadden

A girl who sits behind Peter and becomes the object of his affection. She wipes his back off after Fudge pours ice down him just as Lois Lane is kissing Superman in the film Superman (which Peter has already seen once) while they're at the movies. They hold hands in the movies. When they stand under the mistletoe hung in the classroom, she kisses Peter near his ear, and Peter does the same, except that she turns her head at the last second, with Peter ending up with a mouthful of hair.

Martha and Harvey

These are the only other of Peter's classmates in Princeton that aren't native to New Jersey. When Peter and his class get assigned a geography report on New Jersey, Martha requests if she could give one instead on her home state of Minnesota, to which Mr. Bogner says he will take that under consideration. Harvey is from Pennsylvania.

Sharon and Elaine

Two other girls in Peter's class while he was in Princeton. Sharon is known for looking down at the ground or up at the sky, and Elaine is known for hitting guys her own age in the stomach. (Neither Sharon or Elaine's last names are revealed, though.) They are friends with Joanne, and also socialize with Peter and Alex. Although Peter and Elaine are the same age, he was never socked in the stomach by her and they got along just fine. It is hinted for Jimmy to possibly develop a crush on Sharon. Elaine is also the only person to agree to take Daniel up on his offer of 'making something of it' (wherein he becomes frightened and pleads with her not to hurt him), but she was only joking.

Melissa Beth Miller

Fudge's new friend that moves into their apartment. She is Fudge's age and attends his special mixed group class at school. She has a cat named Fuzzball.

Richie Potter

Fudge's best friend from school. He is a very wealthy boy with allergies, and likes to brag a lot, usually about what he does in the bathroom. Fudge originally thought he was a cousin of the famous boy wizard Harry Potter (as they have the same last name).

Other adults

Mr. & Mrs. Yarby

The president of the Juicy-O company, who lives in Chicago, Illinois. Juicy-O is a combination of fruits which Peter found noxious, and was annoyed when Mr. Yarby sent a crate of it to the Hatcher residence after Warren wrote a TV commercial for the company. Peter's father invited the Yarbys to stay with them when they visited New York City, which annoyed Peter as he would have to sleep with Fudge. Mr. & Mrs. Yarby realize that Fudge is rambunctious and remark on poor manners, irking Peter because he felt he was being respectful to adults. The Yarbys later leave for a hotel after too much Fudge, and terminate the business relationship with Warren. However, Warren says it is a blessing in disguise that he lost the account, as Juicy-O was selling poorly in New York. When Peter says he refrained from hating Juicy-O to be polite, Warren remarks he hated it himself.

Mr. George Vincent

The president of the Toddle Bike company. He chooses Fudge to star in the new commercial for his product, but gets furious when Fudge does not act on cue. Mr. Vincent is almost always seen smoking a big cigar.

Janet

Warren's gorgeous secretary. She usually carries around a purse stuffed to bursting with snacks and beauty supplies. She kisses Peter for convincing Fudge to complete the commercial. Peter secretly feels that her kisses are too wet.

Mr. Bogner

Peter and Alex's sixth-grade teacher. Whereas Peter remarks how some of his past teachers were dumb, he realizes Mr. Bogner is skilled and dedicated to his job, thus Peter learns to respect him.

Mr. Green

The mustached school principal. During an assembly with author Brian Tumkin illustrating a picture of a person Fudge knows, Fudge chooses Mr. Green, who appreciates the drawing and hangs it in his office.

Mrs. Hildebrandt

Fudge's first kindergarten teacher, who he calls "Rat Face" with which Peter apparently doesn't disagree. According to Fudge, she is mean, wouldn't let him play with the round blocks (she never lets her students play with the round blocks on the first day of school), and wouldn't call him Fudge, so he had to kick her and climb on top of the cabinets. After he moves to the other kindergarten, Mrs. Hildebrandt frequently calls him Farley at every opportunity. When he leaves her kindergarten, she says to him "Goodbye, Farley Drexel", and when she meets Uncle Feather she says "What a beautiful bird Farley has". When Fudge tells her that Uncle Feather speaks French, Mrs. Hildebrandt who also speaks French says to him, "Parlez-vous Francais?" Uncle Feather replies, "Bonjour, stupid!" Fudge does not kick her in the TV series.

Ms. Ziff

Fudge's second kindergarten teacher. She is very nice and is reading "An Anteater Named Arthur" when Fudge arrives and he is impressed, since he is a fan of the book.

Brian Tumkin

A famous author whose children's books Fudge likes. In one chapter he gives a lecture at Fudge and Peter's school. When Fudge gets called up to the stage Mr. Tumkin says they will do a game called Chalk Talk in which Fudge dictates characteristics of a person and Mr. Tumkin will draw it out. This scares Peter as Fudge is granted a big chance to embarrass Peter in front of the whole school. However, the person drawn ends up being Mr. Green, who is pleased by the results and asks Brian Tumkin to autograph the drawing so he can hang it in his office.

Bicycle Bob

Bicycle-shop owner who acts as mentor to the children. When Peter accidentally swallows a fly, Bicycle Bob welcomes him to the ISAF club (I Swallowed a Fly) and recommends vanilla ice cream. According to Judy Blume, he is based directly on a real person whom she met one summer when she was growing up, who did indeed own a bike shop.

"When in Rome"

A woman who Peter meets and calls "When in Rome" at Big's Baseball Game because she had quoted the old "When in Rome" phrase. She also appears at Muriel and Buzzy Senior's wedding, as the Justice of the Peace. She calls Peter "Junior."

Olivia Osterman

An older woman who lives in the same apartment building as the Hatchers.

Teens

Isobel

Gorgeous teenage library assistant that Peter meets on holiday in Maine, and develops a serious crush on. Her nickname is Izzy. When Fudge asks Peter what's wrong, Peter admits that Isobel makes him feel dizzy. Fudge later tells that to Jimmy and Sheila. Jimmy doesn't share Peter's affection for Isobel, and Peter loses his spark for her when she doesn't pick him for her team at the ball game. Isobel also persuades Fudge to write an autobiography of himself, entitled "Tell Me A Fudge", after he discovers his friend Mitzi has a book about herself, "Tell Me A Mitzi". Fudge, however, only writes the chapter titles. Peter's infatuation with Isobel despite her being older and him having a brief fantasy of being stranded with her on an island while wearing loincloths mirrored the protagonist of another Judy Blume book, Tony Miglione and his crush on Lisa Hoober in Then Again, Maybe I Won't.

Marty

Marty is Sheila's swim teacher in Tarrytown. Boy-crazy Libby thinks he's gorgeous. At first he has a bit of trouble working with Sheila due to her fear of water, as well as the classes being in a public pool where she may be seen, and Sheila seems to grow a grudge against him. The friction dissolves when Sheila is upfront with Marty about her aquaphobia, and he develops a system to prepare her for her beginner's test. Shiela ends up getting a perfect score on her test and is glad to have gotten a beginner's card. When the Tubmans leave, they have an end-of-summer party, and Marty gets invited. Because she saw him all this time in swim trunks, she at first does not recognize him being fully dressed on dry land.

Freddie

A seventeen-year-old lifeguard at the Tarrytown community pool and yet another young gentleman Libby Tubman finds appealing. She hangs around his guard stand every day, flirts with him and brings him beverages. Upon learning he has a girlfriend, however, she ignores him and sticks to friends and company in her own age group.

Pets

Dribble

Peter's first pet that he won at his best friend Jimmy Fargo's birthday party. Peter always looked after him, but Fudge was always finding ways to harm Dribble and in the end finally swallowed him. Despite having been successfully extracted from Fudge's stomach after he was given a combination of prune juice, castor oil and milk of magnesia, the turtle died. Despite Peter's doctor saying it is likely Dribble would not survive, Peter refuses to accept that, and is thus despondent when Dribble is killed. In the book "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" it seems that no one seems to make a big deal of Dribble's death, but in the TV series episode his parents show more affection and apologize for helping to cause it.

Turtle

Peter's pet dog, named after Dribble. Peter received him after Fudge swallowed his first pet. He is feared and hated by Sheila Tubman. In the TV series, Turtle is a Saint Bernard.

Mumford

A male dog who sires Jennifer's puppies, one of whom is Sheila's dog Jake.

Uncle Feather

Fudge's Myna Bird. They got it when Fudge wanted a bird for a pet in "Superfudge". His parents want him to get something else like a canary or parakeet, but Peter suggests a myna bird, much to everyone else's regret. Fudge wants one so he gets Uncle Feather, whose favorite thing to say is "Bonjour, stupid." In Double Fudge, Turtle likes to "sing" with him to Fudges theme song about money. Later in the book, he goes "on strike," according to Henry, and will not talk at all, but all that changes when he has a near-death incident (thanks to Mini-Farley) which causes him to start talking again. In the books, the family got Uncle Feather when they were living in Princeton, NJ, back in Superfudge.

Baby

A small dog belonging to neighbor Mrs. Reese.

Vinny

A Yorkie belonging to Jimmy's stepmother Beverly.

Jake

A small white and brown puppy belonging to Shela and Libby

References

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