Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is about a fourth grader and his two year old brother. Peter (10) and Fudge (2) are the typical siblings. (If you have a younger sibling you will be able to relate to this well). They live with their parents in an apartment building in New York City. Their father is an advertiser and their mother is a homemaker.

Each chapter in this easy-to-read book is filled with much humor and conflict between Peter and Fudge. Peter is the "fourth grade nothing" (so he thinks). He finds a turtle at the very beginning of the story. His turtle "Dribble" becomes the center of many of the conflicts that Peter has with Fudge. Fudge is constantly getting into Peter's room while he is at school and messing with his stuff, especially his turtle. Peter's mother puts a chain lock on the door, high enough that Fudge cannot reach it. As all young children do, sooner or later, Fudge gets smart and gets a chair to unhitch the chainlock. And this is the end of Dribble. Fudge eats him!

Through all of the hard times that Peter has with Fudge getting all of the attention, not getting punished like Peter thinks he should, and Peter spending a lot of unwanted time watching his brother he gets something in the end that makes it all worth it...his very own puppy. And it's not Fudge and Peter's puppy together, it's Peter's very own puppy.

I read this aloud to my fourth graders, one chapter each day. It's a great book to read aloud and also for the beginning chapter reader. When reading this book aloud, it makes it all the better when you use your "child" voice for Fudge. It's a very realistic story.