Double Fudge Summary

Double Fudge is the name of the book, with the younger brother, six-year-old Farley (Fudge), standing beside protagonist Peter and holding his gigantic “Fudge Buck.” However, through clever juxtaposition on Judy Blume’s part, I believe this obsession of a young boy to be merely a subplot, albeit a necessary one, as it leads us, the readers, to the real plot, and the message about family. Such appreciative contrast begins with the Hatcher family of New York, imperfect because of wild younger brother Fudge. With his newfound fantasy of money, the family decides to teach him a lesson and take a trip to the Federal Bureau of Printing and Engraving. Of course, all it does is boost his attraction to Benjamin Franklin’s portrait, but when they reach the gift shop, the real story begins. The Honolulu Hatchers, long-lost cousins of Peter’s father, Warren, introduce themselves. Over the
course of the story, the two families spend time together, and throughout the novel, their family types clash, and the juxtaposition stays tight. The New York Hatchers are not normal. The people share an apartment with a myna bird, a dog, and a baby, Fudge has an appalling lack of social etiquette, and Peter’s extrapolation skills during a display of Fudge’s lacking quality are unrealistic. They are a hectic family with many mishaps. Compare that with the Honolulu Hatchers, who are shown similar with another Farley, a blatant way to show that that they are similar.
The two girls are twins and have the perfect dynamic and are nicknamed “the Natural Beauties,” and their names are Fauna and Flora. They only eat healthy and only read books, no TV (even though Eudora and Howie, the parents, turn out to adore it), so that the children grow up thinkers. The long-lost Hatchers seem like a perfect family, but it’s actually fake. The twins freakily finish each other’s sentences, Peter notices a pattern in the family’s behavior when the Beauties want to do something, and Howie freaks out when he sees Fauna and Flora eating cereal and has them swear that “I know better than to poison my body with unnatural ingredients.” The father also restricts them from pop music, fashion magazines, and series books. They are so friendly that they invite themselves over to the NY Hatchers’ place, insist on calling Warren “Tubby,” and Howie gets negatively emotional when he learns that Warren “broke his boyhood vow” of becoming a park
ranger. Judy Blume clearly put these two families together and this happens. She is conveying a message through this contrast that a wild family is not necessarily that bad compared to a family like the Howie Hatchers. Sounds good, but not good.