Frindle

by Andrew Clements

Other authorsBrian Selznick (Illustrator)

Paperback, 1996

Status

Check shelf

Call number

J Cl

Genres

Children's Books

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

JUNIOR NOVELS (BLUE label shelves)

Publication

Atheneum Books for Young Readers (1998), Edition: Reprint, 112 pages

Description

When he decides to turn his fifth grade teacher's love of the dictionary around on her, clever Nick Allen invents a new word and begins a chain of events that quickly moves beyond his control.

Local notes

2004-217

User reviews

LibraryThing member bplma

Nick Allen is a clever student who prides himself on his ability to waste time in class--to ask that last question right before the homework is assigned that is guaranteed to get the teacher off on a tangent that goes nowhere--and guarantees no homework assignment that night. He is the master at it

until he finds himself in Mrs. Granger's fifth grade class, where his question gets him assigned extra work. Nick soon comes up with a clever plan to turn the tables on Granger by inventing a new word for ordinary item -- a frindle. What starts as a trick to upset a rigid teacher soon snowballs beyond anything either of them can control.Fast paced and fun to read and discuss, this clever book will engage readers-- from every surprising plot twist to it's satisfying end.

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LibraryThing member emma4321

Nick Allen invents the most greatest idea ever. But to figure it out you are going to have to read the book!

LibraryThing member shillson

Nick Allen is starting fifth grade and has a reputation for coming up with creative schemes to distract even the best teachers. However, his new teacher, Mrs. Granger, manages to always be one step ahead of him. When Nick tries to pull another one of his famous tricks on his vocabulary loving

teacher, he winds up being assigned an extra report on how new words are added to the dictionary. This, however, gives Nick an idea. He decides to start calling a pen a "frindle". Soon, all of the students are calling a pen a frindle. Mrs. Granger is thoroughly annoyed by this and so the battle begins. Teachers and families begin to take sides and the situation escalates to the point that it not only makes it into the national news but the word frindle is added to the dictionary. Despite Nick and Mrs. Granger's battle over the word they do wind up respecting, even liking each other in the end.

I thought this book was a lot of fun. The children and the adults were realistically portrayed and while the plot seems outrageous it is portrayed in a plausible way. The teachers in the story are somewhat stereotypical and the story doesn't necessarily illuminate the problems and issues growing up in today's world. But it does transcend the contemporary setting and could have universal appeal. The battle of teacher versus student is little over the top and students who have read this may try to come up with a similar scheme of their own. But overall it is a fun read that children are sure to enjoy. Suggested grade level: 3-5.

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LibraryThing member emgriff

Nick, a lovable troublemaker famous in school for distracting teachers and avoiding homework, picks a fight with his fifth grade language arts teacher about the origin of words and the authority of the dictionary. His new word for pen spreads like wildfire, resulting in chaos, punishment, and

ultimately national fame. A gentle, amusing tale, this chapter book both empowers children and shows the wisdom and humanity of even the stodgiest of teachers. It is thought provoking as well as humorous. This book would appeal to a wide range of students, both boys and girls. I would recommend it in a public or school library for upper elementary students.

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LibraryThing member akg118

Good Book about a student who learns about word making. He then comes to the conclusion, why can't a pen be called something else? So the word frindle originates, which becomes a widespread across the country. Teachers are not happy about what has happened, but unfortunately it is too late.

LibraryThing member dorcas_yester

Excellent writing and characterization. Clements is able to think like a child and write like an adult seamlessly.

LibraryThing member mrsarey

This is one of my favorite children's books. Nick is a creative kid, but he meets his match with Mrs. Granger, his fifth grade English teacher. What happens in this story is when a boy uses his creativity and creates something spectacular.

LibraryThing member stoog

Frindle, new word with mean teacher, now this is going to be fun

LibraryThing member jhunefeld

Nick, an extremely clever and influential 3rd grader invents the word "frindel" after his vilainous teacher who loves the dictionary claims that words exist becuase we decide that they exist. He persuades his friends and then the whole school to use the word, its existence spreads throughout the

country and years later is added to the dictionary.

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LibraryThing member agraves003

This book is about a boy who makes up a word for the word pen. He gets all of his friends to start saying it and people start catching on. Then someone gets in the way. They don't like how they changed the way of living. I think you should read this book because it had some great parts in it.

LibraryThing member bekstrom

This is a great example of a realistic fiction. It is somthing that could happen in present day life. This can help students see the impact that their lives have on the world and others. This book is easily relatable to people's lives. Nick is the main character and is a round dynamic character.

The reader knows a lot about Nick through his interactions with others, ideas, and his response to the situation. We see Nick change as he grows up. The majority of the story is when Nick is in the 5th grade, but in the last few chapters Nick grows up and we see him in the future. We really see him change in his interactions with Mrs. Granger. I would use this book in an intermediate classroom. Students at this age would really be able to relate to Nick. The media used in this book is pencil.

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LibraryThing member Hpiraino97

This book, was read to me in third grade by one of my teachers. What i do remember is that there was this pen that everybody kept calling a frindle.

LibraryThing member knielsen83

A great book that is heartwarming, funny and full of life. I'm so in love with this author right now and I must say this is the best book I've read by him yet.

LibraryThing member justinscott66

Realistic fiction that will hook struggling readers - guaranteed. Nick is believable. Mrs. Granger is a mystery. There is a sense of danger throughout the book which will up the interest factor. I recently read this book with a group of struggling 5th grade readers who opening despised reading.

Several weeks later, it was commonplace for me to catch those kids carrying Frindle around school hoping for a spare minute to read. Besides, how many of us had a "Mrs.Granger" in elementary school? Mine was Mr. Sisel. He was both a pleasure, a challenge, a mystery... but ultimately a supporter.

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LibraryThing member sriches

Is Nick Allen a troublemaker?

He really just likes to liven things up at school -- and he's always had plenty of great ideas. When Nick learns some interesting information about how words are created, suddenly he's got the inspiration for his best plan ever...the frindle. Who says a pen has to be

called a pen? Why not call it a frindle? Things begin innocently enough as Nick gets his friends to use the new word. Then other people in town start saying frindle. Soon the school is in an uproar, and Nick has become a local hero. His teacher wants Nick to put an end to all this nonsense, but the funny thing is frindle doesn't belong to Nick anymore. The new word is spreading across the country, and there's nothing Nick can do to stop it.

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LibraryThing member moniabegum

in this book the boy named Nick was always day dreaming and his teacher is very EVIL!!!!! and wants every 1 to memorize a Dictionary because every 1 in that class is having a test on that and Nick didn't Practice so he failed and then the teacher asked Nick why he Failed, and Nick said that his pen

Friendle made a mistake. so now every 1 is saying it and he is not happy about it... but soon he gets used to the name and he becomes really popular in his class.

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LibraryThing member jeunlee

Nick wondered why people had to say a pen 'a pen' then he makes a new word, but then he had trouble with Mrs. Granger. This is a perfect book to people who has same question with Nick!

LibraryThing member hgcslibrary

When he decides to turn his fifth grade teacher's love of a dictionaryaround on her, clever Nick Allen invents a new word and begins a chain of events that quickly moves out of his control.

LibraryThing member porch_reader

I read this book to my third-grade son, and we both loved it. Nick Allen is a smart, mischievous fifth grader. His language arts teacher, the no-nonsense Mrs. Granger, is a stickler for good grammar and insists that her students use the dictionary when they don't know the meaning of a word. On the

first day of school, she assigns Nick an oral report on the origin of words. When Nick learns that words get their meanings through the consensus of everyone, he decides to call ink pens by a new name - frindle - and the word wars are on! Will Nick convince everyone to use the word frindle? Or will Mrs. Granger's after-school punishments discourage the use of the new word? Clements keeps us on the edge of our seats until the end.

Ben and I liked this book because the story was an interesting one. The plot moved along quickly. The hero of the book, Nick Allen, is a likable kid, and Mrs. Granger makes a good bad guy. While the overall theme of the book - kids struggling against the rules and regulations of adults - is a common one in juvenile fiction, Clements pulls it off better than most. He captures the perspective of both sides effectively. And the ending of the book was both surprising and satisfying. We highly recommend this book.

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LibraryThing member kaylab

my fourth grade teacher read us this book it is exilent

LibraryThing member clstone

Clements' novel Frindle is a story about a boy, Nick, that wonders what would happen if he began to use a new word and his friends liked it, but his teacher didn't. Nick decides to rename a pen as a frindle in fifth grade and the story of the new word is told. Eventually, Nick's new word is

published in the dictionary, but not before chaos is created in the school.

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LibraryThing member catieanderson4

I really liked this book. I think that it is about something that would not normally happen but does leave children open to think about what they could invent. This book leaves a lot for incredible discussion and opinions.

LibraryThing member menaramore

This is a great story about a boy who invents his own word for pen, frindle. He goes into battle with his language teacher and eventuay he discovers that she was on his side all along.

LibraryThing member AlisonsBookMarks

Add Frindle to your Middle Reader's summer reading list!

I read this book with my 7 year old last week. He wanted to read a book with me, but didn't want me to read it aloud - he's too big for that, I guess. So, he and I lay in bed reading quietly to ourselves. Then, we would talk about each section

we had just read. Often, we would read three or four chapters in a session, because neither one of us wanted to put the book down!

Nick Allen is a smart kid. He has a knack for asking the right questions to get a teacher off topic for the last 15 minutes of class, in order to distract her from assigning homework. Mrs. Granger isn't your average teacher and Nick's trick backfires, and he is assigned to do a research project on what makes a word a word. How do words come to be in the dictionary? Nick comes up with his greatest idea yet - Frindle. Frindle is another name for a pen, according to fifth-grade student, Nick Allen! A word has meaning because you say so, at least that's what his teacher, Mrs. Granger said. Nick decides to test her theory, and her, by getting all the students in the school to stop using the word "pen" and start using the word "frindle." Nick's experiment erupts into something bigger than neither he nor Mrs. Granger could ever have imagined.

I had so much fun reading this book, and it sparked some wonderful discussions with my son, not only about words and how they come to be in the dictionary, but about the power of imagination and creativity.

I highly recommend Frindle. It's a thought provoking story that's age-appropriate and NOT about gross bodily functions. My son and I are looking forward to our next book by Andrew Clements.

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LibraryThing member cacv78

Clements, Andrew. (1996) Frindle. Illustrated by Brian Selznick. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
In this fun story, a boy named Nicholas Allen who likes to question everything. This year, he is in Mrs. Grangers's fifth grade class and he is not happy about it. She has a

reputation for being strict and he knows that this year will be boring. Nick learns about words and their origins because Mrs. Granger is always making them use their dictionaries so Nick decides to invent his own word- frindle- which is supposed to replace the word pen. It catches on quickly so this angers Mrs.Granger and all the other teachers. Nick's new word becomes so popular that he even ends up on The David Letterman Show. Nick even manages to make money off the word frindle and his dad saves it all for him in a trust. This story follows Nick into adulthood and when he turns 21, he gets all the money in his trust and learns a lot about himself too.
This book takes the realities of a kids life into another level. Although the characters are credible and do represent a real child, perhaps the events may seem a bit unrealistic. It does portray a kids struggle with school boredom accurately and how they resort to being creative to keep interested in school.

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