Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Chapter 8 Summary

The TV Star

  • Peter's Aunt Linda (his mom's sister) gives birth to a new baby girl, and so Mrs. Hatcher decides to fly off to Boston for the weekend to visit them.
  • She's worried about leaving Fudge at home, but Peter assures her that he and his dad can handle it. It's only a weekend, after all. What's the worst that could happen?
  • On Friday, Peter doesn't go to school, so his father takes both of the boys into the office with him, and introduces them to his secretary, Janet. She's supposed to babysit them while Mr. Hatcher's in meetings.
  • The boys hang out with Janet, and Peter's curious to know why a bunch of kids are in the building, too. She tells them that those are the kids who are here to audition for the Toddle-Bike commercial.
  • The president of Toddle-Bike, Mr. Vincent, keeps turning away all the child actors. He's super picky.
  • But then he spots Fudge and decides that he's the perfect kid for the Toddle-Bike commercial, even though Fudge isn't even there to audition.
  • Mr. Vincent even says that if Fudge isn't the kid in the commercial, he'll take his account to another advertising firm. Poor Mr. Hatcher can't afford to lose his business.
  • Peter's pretty jealous that Fudge is getting so much attention; what has that kid ever done to deserve to be on a commercial? It just isn't fair.
  • Of course, when the shooting actually starts, Fudge refuses to actually ride the bike, which makes Mr. Vincent threaten to take away the account yet again.
  • But Peter comes up with an idea to save the day. He gets on the Toddle-Bike and rides it around, and gets everyone else to say that there's no way that Fudge can ride as well as Peter does.
  • It totally works. Fudge says that he can ride just as well as his brother, and gets on the bike and finishes the commercial.
  • Janet tells Peter that he's saved the day and kisses him on the cheek, which he secretly wipes off later.