Clements, Andrew. Frindle. N.Y.: Alladin Paperbacks, 1996. 105 pages. (Realistic Fiction)The main characters in this book are Nick, a fifth grade boy, and his fifth grade English teacher, Mrs. Granger. The story takes place in a town called Westfield, in an intermediate school. The problem Nick faces is that he and his teacher disagree about a new word that he invents. His teacher loves using the dictionary and always encourages her students to do the same. One day Nick asked Mrs. Granger why words are called what they are called. She responded by saying “Words are what they are because we say they are.” While walking home from school one day, Nick saw a pen on the side of the road. He picked it up and came up with a great idea. He would call it a “frindle” and use that word all day in school the next day. To do this, Nick called all his friends over to his house and made them sign an oath saying that from now on they would use the word “frindle” instead of “pen.” One interesting event that happened in this book is that in the middle of Nick’s battle with Mrs. Granger over his use of the word “frindle” Mrs. Granger put a notice up on the school bulletin board that said that any kid who used the word “frindle” had to stay after school and write “I am writing this punishment with a pen.”
I thought this book was one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read. I would recommend it with anyone who likes stories about mean English teachers who give you homework on the first day of school. This book was so well written that I would read any other book by Andrew Clements. The characters in this book were very easy to picture and the story very easy to follow. This made the book interesting to read. This book made me want to keep reading and reading until I finished it.
Dangling on the Edge
