Fudge-A-Mania

The novel, Fudge-A-Mania by Judy Blume is intended for ages 8-12. The very first chapter did a great job of painting a picture of the atmosphere of the novel. I could picture Peter fainting, while the little brother, Fudge, freaks out and the mom goes along with the boy’s silly conversation. I like that the story really relates to the child that is reading. It is very typical for a child between 8 and 12 years old to believe that everyone has cooties and for young children to want to be called a name other than that of their own. The family is spending 3 weeks in Maine and Peter, the oldest, gets to bring a friend, Jimmy. They will be sharing a house with Sheila Tubman’s family. Sheila is the girl Fudge thinks he will marry and Peter calls the cootie queen. The only reason he wants to marry her is because he thinks she will snore at night to keep the monsters away. It is funny because Sheila is Fudge’s babysitter, yet he calls her honey whenever he talks to her. She keeps things entertaining and comical by always bickering with Peter. I like that on pg. 21, the author makes all the words come out sounding like the characters have colds. When the bird, Uncle Feather, gets lost, it is funny because they go looking for him and people think that they are really looking for their actual uncle. It is funny when they all run around chasing the bird and then one stops and they all run into each other. I also like that Fudge never knows the meaning of certain words and Peter is always getting frustrated from trying to explain them to him. He is the typical little brother that asks a million questions a day. I like the library scene where Fudge and Peter are at the library and Peter throws a temper tantrum because he can’t find a library book all about him and Peter fantasizes about the good-looking librarian. It is funny that Fudge asks his grandma if she still snores because this is something that many children believe is a characteristic of an elderly person. Page 92 relates to any little boy because it is a joke that could be told with friends about poison gas that comes out when someone eats something that doesn’t agree with them. Fudge is just a hilarious character because he is a typical little sibling that is always talking, blurting out blunt comments, annoying everyone but all together has a good heart. He talks about everybody’s business and he tells everyone that Peter got dizzy because he has a crush on the librarian. This really makes Peter mad. The author does a good job of emphasizing when a character is thinking something that is important by using italics and punctuation. It is cute how the author brings in sarcasm when Peter swallows a fly by having Bicycle Bob tell him about the, “I swallowed a Fly” club and tells him to eat ice cream to cure it. It is also funny how the kids bicker about small things every time they sit down to eat. I think many kids would think it was funny that Peter poured his entire juice on Fudge. The author does a good job of describing the blueberry incident because when the reader first reads that Fudge is blue, they might think that he has choked on something. I really like that the book ended with a baseball game that everyone, even grandma and Isobel partook in. It was a good message that Peter was really upset about the game but then after Jimmy thanked him for making him play and Fudge kissed him and called him the best big brother, Peter became happy and realized that it is okay to lose and he could always do better next time. Although there were many conflicting incidents throughout the book, the author ended it with everyone being happy in the end. Jimmy’s father created new art from the baby sister’s foot prints on his ruined painting. Grandma and Buzzy Senior fell in love and got married. This meant that Peter and Fudge would have to be related to the Tubman’s. They all accepted that they would have to deal with each other and the very last paragraph wrapped up Peter and Sheila’s love-hate relationship. They shook hands that even though they were related, they would agree to always hate each other. This book was so much fun and never had a boring moment. I would recommend it for both girls and boys in elementary school because it is easy to relate to and very humorous.