Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Jealousy Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

I can stay up for as long as three minutes. I showed my mother, my father, and Fudge how I can do it right in the living room. They were all impressed. Especially Fudge. He wanted to do it too. So I turned him upside down and tried to teach him. But he always tumbled over backward. (3.3)

Fudge wants to be like his big brother. Being older means you can do cooler stuff like walking to Central Park and doing headstands, but sometimes Peter forgets that when Fudge is being showered with attention and presents.

Quote #5

"No." I told her. "I'm not going to stand on my head anymore." I went into my room and slammed the door. I played with Dribble until suppertime. Nobody ever worries about me the way they worry about Fudge. If I decided not to eat they'd probably never even notice. (3.18)

Peter doesn't always realize that the reason his parents don't worry about him as much is because they trust him to be reasonable and responsible. Unlike Fudge, who needs to be watched every second. Oh, the burden of being the firstborn kid…

Quote #6

My mother thinks Sheila is the greatest. "She's so smart," my mother says. "And some day she's going to be a real beauty." Now that's the funniest. Because Sheila looks a lot like the monkeys that Fudge is so crazy about. (4.13)

It's not surprising that Peter doesn't like Sheila. He already feels like he has to compete with Fudge for his mom's attention; it's not cool that Mrs. Hatcher is going around and praising Sheila, too.