In Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, the reader is never told by Peter, the narrator of the story, the exact ages of Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher. We are only told the exact age of Peter, who is nine, and Fudge, who is two at the beginning of the story but has his third birthday in the middle of the story.

We are told Peter's age in the first chapter. Peter proudly shows Henry Bevelheimer, the elevator operator in their apartment building, his newly won pet turtle, Dribble, and informs the reader that Henry is so smart that he knows every person who lives in the building, which floors they live on, and that Peter is "nine and in fourth grade" (4). On the next page, Peter informs the reader that his "biggest problem" is Farley Drexel Hatcher, his two-and-a-half-year-old little brother, who goes by the nickname Fudge. In Chapter 5, Fudge is given a party for his third birthday, and the party is a disaster in many different ways because all the children were too young to attend a party.

While we are never told the exact age of Peter's parents, we know they are young enough to still be making their ways in the world. While Mr. Hatcher has a good job working for an advertising agency, he is still relatively inexperienced, shown by the fact that he makes the mistake of inviting his Juicy-O clients to stay as his house guests in their tiny apartment and loses the account because of Fudge's unruly behavior. In addition, we know Mrs. Hatcher is young enough to have a younger sister who has just had her first baby. If we assume that Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher were married in their early 20s, we might calculate, based on Peter's age, that they are in their early thirties.