Double Fudge
 First edition | |
| Author | Judy Blume |
|---|---|
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel and realistic fiction |
| Publisher | Scholastic Corporation |
Publication date | 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 |
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.
Plot
In this latest installment of the series, Fudge takes up an obsessive and greedy love for money and after some talking his family decides to take him to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C. for a long weekend to show how money 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 twin daughters Flora and Fauna who are sometimes nicknamed the "Natural Beauties" and the "Heavenly Hatchers," and last but not least, five-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 has left the Upper West Side neighborhood and moved 'far off' to SoHo on the other side of Manhattan.
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 Fudge furious at him because he was planning to get a dollar for it from the tooth fairy. After the Howie Hatchers leave with Mini to go to the hospital, 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 and killed Peter's pet turtle, Dribble, in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Genuinely surprised at this news, Fudge apologizes to Peter for eating his pet 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.