
Fudge Shaw is a round‑bodied, red‑haired teenager who spends his afternoons perched in an apple tree, half‑heartedly wrestling with poetry and half‑heartedly avoiding the chores of everyday life. His best friend Perry Hull, a lanky, quick‑witted boy from the same small town of Clearfield, drops by on a bright, post‑rain spring day to prod Fudge out of his reverie. Their banter reveals a world where schoolbooks sit beside baseball scores, and where the simple pleasure of a sunny afternoon feels like a rare treasure after weeks of gray skies.
When the two friends stumble upon a mysterious purple pennant fluttering on a distant fence, curiosity replaces routine. The pennant’s odd color and unexpected appearance hint at a hidden story tied to the town’s past, and Fudge’s restless imagination quickly whirls into action. As they decide whether to investigate further, the stage is set for a light‑hearted adventure that blends youthful humor, budding creativity, and the timeless thrill of uncovering a secret that could change their ordinary lives.
Language
en
Duration
~6 hours (367K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Release date
2021-07-10
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1870–1944
Best known for lively school and college stories, this prolific American writer helped shape early 20th-century boys’ fiction with tales of sports, friendship, and campus life. He also wrote under the name Oliver Horn and left behind a large body of popular juvenile novels.
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