Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Since Angstrat's post yesterday was a NYC tribute, I went with a book that opened my eyes to New York. Nine year old Peter Hatcher has his hands full. Not only is he dealing with normal fourth grade stuff, like friends, schoolwork, his pet turtle and a girl he's constantly bickering with, but his three year old brother Farley Dexter Hatcher, nicknamed Fudge is a holy terror getting into trouble all over New York City. Not only is this a funny story of sibling rivalry, the parents are hilarlous too. The chapter where the mom gets rid of one the kids' friends who is always inviting himself over for dinner by cooking every food he hates is hilarious (and kind of a forerunner to the mom's cooking inThe Corrections, if you think about it). As a kid in suburban Chicago, I was surprised to learn that grown-ups with kids lived in apartments, even ones that seemed rich. And they were always eating stuff like egg creams, that I'd never heard of. This book has several sequels, but I haven't read the more recent ones.