Frindle: By Andrew Clements

            Frindle, by Andrew Clements, tells the story of Nicholas Allen, who was full of big ideas. In the third-grade he had turned the classroom into a tropical paradise complete with sand and palm trees. In the fourth-grade he spent the whole year chirping like a bird, confusing his teacher who never did figure out from where the noise was coming. But as Nick enters the fifth-grade, he faces a whole new challenge: Mrs. Granger.

           Everyone at Lincoln Elementary School knew that fifth-grade language arts teacher, Mrs. Granger, had x-ray vision, and never let anyone get anyway with anything in her classroom; surely Nick had met his match. But Nick’s big ideas could not be contained. After learning about how words are made, in a scheme to waste class time, he plotted his greatest plan ever: to invent a new word. His idea spread like wildfire, and soon every fifth-grader at Lincoln Elementary, then every student at Lincoln Elementary, then the entire USA, and then the entire world was calling a pen, a frindle.

            The creation of a new word caused quite a stir in Nick’s quiet town, and no one wished the nonsense would end sooner than Mrs. Granger, the school principal, and Nick’s parents, whose lives had been turned upside down dealing with the chaos. Soon Nick felt the same way, but the word no longer belonged to him because the entire world was using it. All that was left for the people of Westfield, Massachusetts to do was to sit back and watch the word take root.

            Andrew Clement’s realistic fiction novel, tells an imaginative tale about thinking outside the box and the power of the English language. His characterization and style of writing, draws the reader’s attention, creating a “good” vs. “bad” dynamic between Nick and Mrs. Granger that helps to heighten the excitement of the plan to make the word Frindle stick. The vivid and believable details given to describe the teachers at Lincoln Elementary and Nick’s family make the story seem as though it could have been set at any kid’s elementary school, allow young readers to relate to Nick’s life and find the story highly authentic. These younger readers find the story further credible through the inclusion of many black and white pencil drawings, by Brian Selznick, that solidify the scenes and characters created in each chapter.

            Per the publisher’s recommendation, Frindle is suggested for readers ages 8-12. I would say this is pretty accurate, as this age of reader will be able to relate to Nick’s character and the struggles he faces at Lincoln Elementary. I really enjoyed hearing about how one student created such a fuss in a small town that reminds me so much of my own hometown. This book will keep the reader guessing and wondering how far the word frindle will actually spread from the confines of Mrs. Granger’s class. Young readers will find themselves thinking about creating their own words when they see just how far frindle takes fifth-grader, Nicholas Allen.

Picture Source: www.andrewclements.com/books-frindle.html