Module 7: Frindle

a.      Frindle is a story about a boy who manages to get his way with most every teacher year after year. In this school year, Nicholas Allen is dreading the teacher than no one can get past, Mrs. Granger. She is a stickler for things like definitions and owning a dictionary. Once the school year begins, Nicholas start his antics by trying to outrun the clock but he is not so successful as he thought. He winds up with additional homework in the worst form: a book report. He then decides to hog up almost the entire class time giving an oral report of his work. He goes on and on about the history of the dictionary, including a show and tell of his own personal dictionary and rambling questions of the meaning of words.  He isn’t successful in consuming the class time, since Mrs. Granger manages to cram an entire day’s worth of lessons into eight minutes and sends the kids off with homework. Nicholas later hatches a plan to make up his own word for pen, now a frindle, to get under Mrs. Granger’s skin. He is successful in landing anyone who uses the word frindle in detention. Administrators try to support her and parents manage to discredit her, saying that it is a harmless act. This creates this media sensation in the local paper. Mrs. Granger and Nicholas both agree to come together once everything is over, and she will give him a letter. As with all fads, a local businessman creates tshirts and other merchandise to jump in on the craze. Considering copyrights, he reaches out to Nicholas’ dad to get permission for his word. This extra money is put aside as Nicholas becomes a very wealthy man, while strengthening the use of the word frindle. Many years later, the word frindle is finally included in the dictionary. Nicholas receives a packet containing a note, a heavy new dictionary and the old letter from 5^th grade. In her short note, she explains that she now uses him as an example to all of her students on how new words are created and added to the dictionary. He also sends sweet gift of a fountain pen or frindle or whatever she chooses to call it.

b.      Clements, A. (1996). Frindle. New York: Simon & Schuster Books.

c.       My first impression of this book was that I did not like it. I was not enjoying the consistent battle that made Mrs. Granger out to be the bad teacher. She was simply upholding a standard. The author really created this whole domino effect with this word. I guess a new idea can create a money-making opportunity but that’s for something tangible! This was simply a word and it made Nicholas rich. The author reveals Mrs. Granger to be inwardly proud of Nicholas and his accomplishments as she expected his word to be included in the dictionary. This is all fine and dandy but I still could not enjoy this book. I thought to be too exaggerated as opposed to funny. His character left me hoping that students would not make a habit of undermining the teacher’s plans and making a spectacle of her.

d.      E.S.W. (1996). Frindle. Horn Book Magazine, 72(6), 732.

Frindle(g)
(*) Andrew Clements

Illustrated by Brian Selznick.

               105 pp. Simon 10/96 ISBN 0-689-80669-8 15.00

(*) indicates a book that the majority of reviewers believe to

be an outstanding example of its genre, of books of this

particular publishing season, or of the author's body of work.
(g) indicates that the book was read in galley or page proof. The publisher's price is the general retail price and does not indicate a possible discount to libraries. Age levels are only suggestions; the individual child is the real criterion.

The author has created a fresh, imaginative plot that will have readers smiling all the way through, if not laughing out loud. Nick, a champion time-waster, faces the challenge of his life when confronted with the toughest teacher in school, Mrs. Granger. Always counted on to filibuster the impending test or homework assignment away, Nick has met his match in "Dangerous Grangerous," who can spot a legitimate question in a second and has no patience with the rest. In answer to "Like, who says that d-o-g means the thing that goes 'woof' and wags its tail? Who says so?" she replies, "You do, Nicholas. You and me and everyone in this class and this school and this town and this state and this country." And thus is born frindle, Nick's new name for pen, promising and delivering a classic student-teacher battle along the lines of — but far funnier than — Avi's Nothing But the Truth (Orchard). The battle assumes the proportions of a tall tale, and although outrageous and hilarious, it's all plausible, and every bit works from the premise to the conclusion. The brisk narration is rapid-fire, and Nick is one of the most charming troublemakers since Soup. The merchandising future of this one is too terrible to contemplate; the cutting-edge gift this Christmas has got to be a frindle.

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By Elizabeth S. Watson

e.       I would incorporate a craft activity. Students would choose a word to remake, then advertise it using posters with illustrations and reasoning for the new word. All entries would form a student dictionary for display in the library.