ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the oft critically derided author Judy Blume's overlooked narrative innovations into the form and construction of the children's literary protagonist. Whereas this idea has been discussed before in her young adult literature such as Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret (1970), this investigation of Peter Hatcher from her Fudge books contended that, within the family unit, a character can quite literately grow out of the starring role in their own series. Such is Peter's case who, while in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, is the book's focus, consistent with his role as a protagonist, quickly becomes shunt from prominence by younger and newer models—namely his younger brother, Fudge, and his sister, Tootsie. Effectively, Blume seems to show that growing up within a children's book series can have the unintended outcome of rendering the child protagonist as more adult than other children, wherein, they are replaced in that role and given other roles. Peter, displaced by Fudge from almost the outset, essentially becomes thrust from the role, becoming a literal ‘Nothing’ by the fourth grade as the series’ narrator (When Blume doesn’t give that role to someone else like Sheila). In an effort to take this diminution of roles and make something from it, Peter takes his case to the reader who he feels probably understands how he's feeling and can grant him some small comfort in his new, reduced position within the series. Likewise, a reader can find in Peter's narrative that childhood is fleeting and the responsibilities that come in the post are all part of moving into the narrative of adolescence.
