List of Fudge Series Characters - Characters - Friends and Their Families

Friends and Their Families

Jimmy Fargo - Peter's best friend. He is mentioned as younger than Peter, though older than Sheila (assuming that because he's taller than her). Jimmy and his family originally lived a few buildings down from Peter and Sheila, and then moved into Peter and Sheila's building, before eventually moving down to SoHo. In the TV series, Jimmy and his father are African-American.

Frank Fargo - Jimmy's father. He used to be an actor but became an abstract artist, judging from Peter's descriptions of some of his paintings. He also divorced his wife, which became very unsettling for Jimmy. Later, Tootsie accidentally walks across one of Frank's paintings, which inspires him for a new artwork series entitled "Baby Feet." Frank gets remarried to Beverly Muldour, a family friend of the Hatchers from their time in Princeton, New Jersey.

Anita Fargo - Jimmy Fargo's mother and the first wife of Frank Fargo. She is first seen in the first Fudge book at Jimmy's birthday party giving Peter his pet turtle, Dribble. She later divorced Frank Fargo after an argument where she threw red paint at one of his paintings, to which Mr. Fargo took advantage of to display, calling the painting Anita's Anger. Jimmy said that his mother loves kissing, so she moved from New York to Vermont, where Jimmy and Peter believe people engage in much kissing. Mrs. Fargo moved to a very rural community in Vermont, as Peter says at one point he is unable to contact Jimmy as he is visiting his mother in Vermont, and they had no telephone service there.

Sheila Tubman - Peter's rival (though Peter sees her as a "sworn enemy"). She lives in Peter's apartment building two floors below his own. Peter believes Sheila is a real know-it-all. She was the Queen Of Cooties even when she was in 4th grade. She gives up cooties sometime between the fourth and seventh chapters of the first book. She is incredibly bossy and tries to run the report committee by herself. She has an older sister named Libby. In the second book, she exhibits a fear of dogs, especially Peter's dog, Turtle. There may be some chances of Sheila and Peter showing slight affections towards each other throughout the series, and it is obvious she has a slight crush on him. Sheila becomes Peter's cousin when her grandfather, Buzzy and Peter's grandmother, Muriel marry.

Libby Tubman - Sheila's older sister, who often is seen exercising in a leotard. She fancies herself as being very sophisticated and glamorous, addressing her parents as "Mother" and "Father." She is very interested in boys, and it is also shown she is not a great singer, when she does not get the part of Wendy in a production of Peter Pan. Mrs. Hatcher hires Libby to help watch after Tootsie when the demands of a baby and other parenting responsibilities get to be too much for her to handle at once. Her friend, when the Tubmans lived in Tarrytown, is Maryanne Markman. Libby is often annoyed by Sheila and her attention-getting, much like Peter could be with Fudge, and so, because of their shared situations, is often willing to try to get along with Peter. Libby becomes Peter's cousin when her grandfather marries Peter's grandmother.

Jean and Bertram "Buzz" Tubman - Sheila and Libby's parents. Mr. Tubman is a college professor at Marymount College. They become related to the Hatchers when Mr. Tubman's father marries Anne Hatcher's mother.

Mrs. Reese The Tubmans next door neighbor. She owns a small dog named Baby.

Buzzy Senior - Sheila's grandfather, who ends up marrying Muriel at the end of Fudge-A-Mania, thereby uniting the Hatcher and Tubman families.

Jake - Sheila's pet dog, whom she adores only because she isn't big and smelly. Peter doesn't learn about Jake until arriving at the cottage in Maine. Jake eventually befriends Turtle.

Henry Bevelheimer - The elevator operator, whom seems to know everybody in the apartment well. Henry and Peter get along well, although on one occasion (in Superfudge), he scolded Peter for siccing Turtle on Sheila after she and Peter got into an argument. In Double Fudge, he helps out with Uncle Feather's brief period of being unable to talk, and is then later promoted to superintendent of the building and converts the elevator to self-service. In the TV series, Henry is the janitor and handyman of the building.

Betsy Ellis - Merle's little sister at age 4. She is a champion swimmer known to do perfect dives. She is allergic to dogs and carries around her "make-believe dog" (which is an empty candy box) Ootch.

Merle 'Mouse' Ellis - Sheila's same age friend from Tarrytown that has noticeably lots of scabs. They are best buds until a game of slam book where they start fighting with Bobby Egran's models with the Van Arden twins, Sondra and Jane. Despite it all, Mouse and Sheila repair their friendship afterward. She is the grand champion of Tarrytown in yoyo and is an expert swimmer. She was going to visit Sheila in Maine in Fudge-a-Mania, but was struck down with chicken pox and couldn't make it, much to the dismay of Sheila.

Jane and Sondra Van Arden - A set of twin sisters that also live in Tarrytown that are friends with Sheila and Mouse. Sondra is amply contoured, sensitive and shy, though she is a great swimmer and usually comes up with good ideas. Jane is more aggressive than her sister, and is also ruder, and much thinner than Sondra. During their slam book game, Sondra is deeply offended by her friends calling her a "fat slob" and "crybaby," and Jane is equally offended because she got some negative criticism as well.

Ralph, Jennie and Sam - Fudge's original friends who live in the same apartment building. Ralph loves to eat and is very large-bodied to the point where his own mother cannot lift him. Jennie is described by Peter as a mini-vampire since likes to bite people and is also quite rude, for she annoys Anne Hatcher and she even urinates on the rug, and she dislikes it when she can't have things her way. Sam suffers nearly every phobia possible and also winds up getting chicken pox and having a new baby sibling. In the TV series, Ralph does not appear, but Jennie and Sam do. Jennie and her family are from Chinese descent in the TV series.

Daniel Manheim - Fudge's new friend, introduced in Superfudge, as pudgy, Jewish, with a lot of reddish hair, and ears that stick out more than Peter's. Daniel is a bird expert, as seen in the beginning of Chapter 9 as he is lecturing Fudge on myna birds. He also delivers his tough-guy line: "Ya wanna make somethin' of it?" whenever asked of something. Once, though, after delivering his "tough-guy" line, some person agreed to "make something of it". Daniel then proceeded to chicken out. According to himself, he's 6 and lives at 432 Vine Street. He is also somewhat of a fussy eater; he constantly mentions that he does not like onions, lima beans, peas and Oreo cookies, and he also hates bread crusts and only drinks chocolate milk. Daniel lives in Princeton in the books, but in the TV series, Daniel lives in New York City (presumably in the same building as the Hatchers) and replaces Ralph in Fudge's group of friends invited to his birthday party. Also in the TV series, Daniel wears glasses and is 5 years old, but still retains his tough-guy attitude.

Mrs. Manheim - Daniel's single mother, who is heavily concerned about her son and drives a red sports car.

Alex Santo - Peters new friend, introduced in Superfudge, as very small, with hair that hangs into his eyes, and is always wearing a T-shirt that says "Princeton, Class of '91". He is a Boy Scout and was away at Scout camp when Peter first moved to Princeton. He collects worms for Mrs. Muldour, an elderly neighbor.

Mrs. Muldour - One of Peter's new acquaintances. She is an elderly woman who lives near Peter also is to be believed that she eats worms as Peter and Alex dig them up for her.

Beverly Muldour - A pretty young woman Peter calls "Giraffe Neck" when he sees her at the art gallery and later seen as Mrs. Muldour's daughter. She eventually becomes Frank Fargo's second wife.

Joanne McFadden- A girl who sits behind Peter and becomes the object of his affection. She wipes his back off after Fudge pours ice down him as Lois Lane is kissing Superman at the movies. They hold hands in the movies. When they stand under the mistletoe hung in the classroom, she kisses Peter near his ear, and Peter does the same, except that she turns her head at the last second, with Peter ending up with a mouthful of hair.

Martha and Harvey- These are the only other of Peter's classmates in Princeton that aren't native to New Jersey. Martha wants to research her home state, Minnesota, instead of New Jersey, but Mr. Bogner decides to discuss it later. Harvey is from Pennsylvania.

Sharon and Elaine - Two other girls in Peter's class while he was in Princeton. Sharon is known for looking down at the ground or up at the sky, and Elaine is known for hitting guys her own age in the stomach. (Neither Sharon or Elaine's last names are revealed.) They are friends with Joanne, and also socialize with Peter and Alex. Although Peter and Elaine are the same age, he was never socked in the stomach by her and they got along just fine. It is hinted for Jimmy to possibly develop a crush on Sharon. Elaine is also the only person to agree to take Daniel up on his offer of 'making something of it' (where he proceeds to chicken out), but it is implied she was joking anyway.

Melissa Beth Miller - Fudge's new friend that moves into their apartment. She is Fudge's age and attends his special mixed group class at school. She has a cat named Fuzzball.

Richie Potter - Fudge's best friend from school. He is a very wealthy boy with allergies, and likes to brag a lot, usually about what he does in the bathroom. Fudge originally thought he was a cousin of the famous boy wizard Harry Potter (as they have the same last name).

Mitzi - Friend of Fudge's whom he met on holiday in Maine. She is obsessed with Fudge, and develops a crush on him. According to Fudge, she keeps monster spray and has a baby brother called Jacob. She is also the granddaughter of famous baseball player Big Apfel.

Mrs A - Mitzi's grandmother and Big Apfel's wife. She makes Mitzi's monster spray for her and makes really tasty cocoa. Peter and Fudge first meet her when they go round the neighbor's houses asking if the neighbors have seen Uncle Feather. Mrs A originally thinks Uncle Feather is Peter and Fudge's uncle. It is never mentioned if she is ever corrected.

Big Apfel - Famous baseball player who Peter is astounded to find is his new neighbor in Maine. Peter seriously looks forward to playing a game with him, but gets angry when he discovers that Big Apfel doesn't take the game seriously.

Olivia Osterman - She is a well-known, elderly neighbor to the Hatchers. She is almost 90 years old and used to be a Broadway actress. She also doesn't understand why Peter named his dog "Turtle" (although how Turtle got his name, in Peter's words, "makes perfect sense to" everyone else).