Frindle

=//Frindle//, by Andrew Clements=

Reviewed by Derek Cheng
The word Frindle could become a real word - all because of this book. With over two million copies sold, it's no wonder that this book has become legendary. Almost every school has it in their library, and almost every kid I know who is older than 9 has read it. I'm sure that you have read it, too!

In this book, a boy called Nick Allen is going to the fifth grade. He is well known throughout the school for creating wild situations that seem to be trouble for teachers, but are actually just little jokes that are never really trouble. In fifth grade, Nick will have to get the most feared Language Arts teacher in the whole school - Mrs. Granger, who is very strict, and likes to follow the rules. One of the rules, as Nick discovers, has a "loophole" in it. Although it isn't really a loophole, Nick decides to create a new name for a pen - Frindle. He starts asking his friends to go down to the store to ask for "frindles", and to use the word frindle instead of the word pen. Eventually, the word goes around to the whole school, then the whole town, and Ms. Granger starts to give detention to anyone who uses the word frindle instead of the word pen. Nick started getting press attention, and people started to think that Nick was waging a war against Ms. Granger, and that he can stop everything if he wanted too. Actually, Nick states that is not true, and he says it is out of his control. Soon, it spreads across the country, and when Nick goes to college, he finally receives a letter from Ms. Granger saying her apologies and all that... And a dictionary, which had the word Frindle in it.

This book is a great read for all kids. It teaches kids about rules, and what rules apply to. It also teaches kids about the freedom to make new things and the importance of change. Because this story tells of something so weird and unusual, it is very interesting to read, as you are always dying to know what Nick is going to do next. Somehow though, I have a feeling that this is unlikely to happen in real life, and if someone does try something like this in real life, it would probably only spread throughout the school. It's still pretty interesting to read, though.