Summary
In January, Peter's class starts a project on New York City in school. Peter is assigned to work with Jimmy Fargo and Sheila on the topic of transportation. They decide to meet at Peter's apartment to work on the project over the next few weeks. Sheila immediately puts herself in charge of the project booklet, and assigns Peter and Jimmy the poster as long as they make sure she likes all their ideas first. They meet at Peter's house every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, and gather a lot of materials to read about NYC transportation. After reading, Peter insists that creating a monorail system is the best way to fix traffic in the city; Sheila disagrees, but she tells Peter he can write about it for his part of the project. They decide that after everyone writes their part, Sheila will copy it over so it is all in the same handwriting.
Peter and Jimmy design their poster, showing the pros and cons of each type of land, sea, and air transportation. Sheila tries to boss them around as they make the poster, even though it is their job. She angrily stomps out of Peter's house when they yell at her for it.
The week before the project is due, Peter comes home from school one day to see Fudge in his room. It turns out that Fudge had colored all over Peter's project poster in magic marker, since it was sitting under his bed. He ruined it. Peter gets angry at his mother for letting Fudge do this, and locks himself in his room. Later, Peter's mother comes in to apologize, and she tells him she spanked Fudge because of it, which surprises Peter since his parents do not believe in spanking. She says it is her fault because she let Fudge in Peter's room, and Peter says he needs a lock on his door. She refuses, saying that they are a family and they do not have to lock each other out. She promises Fudge will never get into his room again, but Peter does not believe it.
They start over again on the poster, and Jimmy is a good sport about it when he learns what happened. They finish up the project together at their last committee meeting, and Jimmy notices that on the booklet, Sheila wrote "handwritten by Miss Sheila Tubman" on the cover, which gets Jimmy and Peter angry because she is taking credit for most of the project. They threaten to rip it up unless she takes her name off the cover. Finally she gives in, and turns her name into a flower decoration.
The evening before Peter's project, he finds Fudge in his room again. This time Fudge is using the scissors from Peter's project supplies to cut off his hair, and the hair is dropping into Dribble's bowl. Peter cleans the turtle's bowl, and the next day his mother takes Fudge to the barber to do something about his cut hair. That night, Peter's father comes home with a chain latch for Peter's door that was high enough for Fudge not to reach. Peter gives his project presentation, and the teacher loves it.
Peter's mother's sister Linda has a new baby, so she flies to Boston to visit and leaves the kids home with their father. Peter likes this, since his father never examines him to see if he's clean and lets him stay up late at night. Peter is out of school the next day because of a special teacher meeting, so Mr. Hatcher takes both boys to his office with him. Janet, their father's secretary, takes them on a tour of the office. During the tour, they come upon a bunch of young children waiting in a room with their mothers, and Janet explains that they are here to audition for the new Toddle-Bike commercial. Mr. Hatcher is one of the people who will choose the child to be featured.
Mr. Vincent, the president of Toddle-Bike, comes into the room, and immediately points at Peter and Fudge saying "That's the kid I want!" Peter thinks he is taking about him and gets visions of being famous, but it turns out that it was Fudge he was looking at. When Mr. Hatcher shows up he protests, but Mr. Vincent will not take no for an answer, saying he will go to another advertising agency if Fudge does not ride the bike in the commercial. Mr. Hatcher agrees on one condition: the commercial has to be made this afternoon.
Peter is a little jealous, and tries to think of reasons why Fudge should not be in the commercial. He runs out of reasons, and Mr. Vincent is still set on Fudge. He is frustrated that Fudge will soon be famous and he will still be plain old Peter Hatcher, "fourth grade nothing." They begin filming the commercial, but Fudge does not cooperate at first and will not pedal the bike. Janet tempts him with Oreos, but it does not work. Mr. Hatcher has an idea, and asks Peter to ride the Toddle-Bike first to show Fudge how it is done. Peter grudgingly agrees and they take a screaming Fudge off the bike so Peter can get on. Sure enough, Fudge refuses to let Peter be the only one to do it, and demands they let him try again. He rides the bike shouting "Just like Pee-tah!" and Janet tells Peter he saved the day and kisses him on the cheek.
Analysis
Readers can learn a few important lessons about cooperating as a team from the group project that Peter, Jimmy, and Sheila do in Chapter 7. It is important to divide work evenly, and play to everyone's individual strengths; Sheila was better at writing, while Jimmy and Peter wanted to focus on the creative work of the poster. However, Sheila did try to take control of the project, and the boys correctly pointed out that being a team does not mean one person gives orders and the others follow them. When working in a group, it is important to find a balance and listen to each other's ideas. This is an important and very mature lesson for Peter to learn as a fourth grader.
Another thing Peter learns from this experience is how to deal with disappointment, solve problems with a level head, and find a silver lining in any bad situation. When Fudge ruins Peter's project, he could have easily moped around, become angry, and refused to make a new one. However, he made the best of the situation by explaining what happened to Jimmy, and taking responsibility for getting the new poster ready. He knows he has a responsibility to his group, despite the trouble his little brother has caused. Peter and Jimmy even find a silver lining in this incident: making a new poster means they have the opportunity to improve it and make it even better.
In Chapter 8, Fudge once again needs Peter's example in order to cooperate with what he is being asked to do. This is becoming a recurring theme in the book, and illustrates how much Fudge looks up to his older brother. By this point, Peter has accepted his responsibility as a role model for Fudge.
But even so, this experience was disappointing for Peter. Peter has often complained that Fudge gets more attention than him just because he is little and adorable, and frequently has to watch as others fawn over his brother and not acknowledge him. Now, after being chosen for the Toddle-Bike commercial, Fudge is getting more attention than Peter on a much larger scale. This is everything that has annoyed Peter about Fudge coming together in the most painful way, but Peter grits his teeth, bears it, and helps out as much as he can, showing how he has matured.
For the first time, the book's title phrase makes an appearance. Peter calls himself a "fourth grade nothing," which shows how much he hates feeling invisible, ignored, and plain. Just like many other children, one of Peter's biggest desires is to be noticed and appreciated, and right now, he constantly feels like he is in the shadow of his little brother. There are a few more chapters left in the book in which Peter's feelings of being a "nothing" could turn around.
