''Double Fudge'' is a 2002 children's novel by Judy Blume and the fifth and final entry in the Fudge series. The Hatcher family goes to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

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 Fudge series, Fudge is still five years old and takes up an obsessive and greedy love for money, driving his twelve-year-old brother, Peter, insane, and after some talking with his family, they decide to take him to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C. for a long weekend to show how it 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 A ranger, park ranger, park warden, or forest ranger is a law enforcement person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Description "Parks" may be broadly defined by some systems in thi ...

who resides in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and is traveling the country, his pregnant wife, Eudora, their perfect, slightly overindulged twelve-year-old identical twin daughters, Flora and Fauna, who are sometimes nicknamed the "Natural Beauties" and the "Heavenly Hatchers", and last but not least, three-year-old Farley Drexel Hatcher, which is also Fudge's real name. Peter dubs him "Mini", and the nickname sticks. The Hatchers are forced when the Howie Hatchers invite themselves to move in with them for weeks in their

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

apartment. Peter is also having a rough time throughout the story because his best friend, Jimmy Fargo, has left the Upper West Side and moved "far off" to

SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

on the other side of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, although they still get to go to the same school, where they're both in the seventh grade, while Fudge is in *Mixed* group, along with his new friend, Melissa Beth Miller. 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 him furious at him because he was planning to get a dollar for it from the tooth fairy. After the Howie Hatchers leave with Mini for good, Fudge throws a temper tantrum over what Mini did, saying he hated him. Then Peter tells him that he felt the same way when Fudge swallowed his pet turtle, Dribble, in ''

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'' is a children's novel written by American author Judy Blume and published in 1972. It is the first in the Fudge series and was followed by ''Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great'', '' Superfudge'', '' Fudge-a-M ...

''. Genuinely surprised at this news, Fudge apologizes to him for doing so 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, which, as of 2022, has not come to fruition.

References

External links

Judy Blume's website

Official website
2002 American novels American children's novels Fudge series Novels by Judy Blume Novels set in New York City Novels set in Washington, D.C. Sequel novels 2002 children's books {{2000s-child-novel-stub