Frindle - Andrew Clements

Frindle
Andrew Clements
Brian Selznick (Illustrator)
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
A Division of Simon and Schuster
ISBN 9780689818769
ASIN B0030H7UM6

This book was a great little read. It came as a recommendation from another blog. I do not recall reading any books by Andrew Clements, and most of his books were written after 1995 when I started keeping track. But there was something familiar about the story. The writing is highly entertaining.

Nick Allen is a very intelligent boy, and he seems to have a knack for stirring up trouble even though he does not intend to be a troublemaker. This book focuses mostly around his fifth grade year. Without intending to he ends up in a battle with Mrs. Granger. This is a war that goes on from the first day of school until the end of the year. And it is a war or words, or more specifically a war about words. After giving a report, an extra assignment, on dictionaries Nick comes up with the plan to eliminate the word pen and replace it with Frindle.

The characters are well done. One can't help cheering for Nick and wishing against the Granger. And once words are set loose they cannot be taken back and that is what happens to Nick. By the time his parents become aware of the situation he cannot take the word back, it has a life of its own. The story gets more and more complicated, spreading from Nick's class to all grade 5's, to the whole school and soon the whole nation.

This was a wonderful book to read. I have put it to the top of the summer reading list for my oldest to read with her, and then to have her read to her younger siblings. It is the type of story that teaches a great lesson, has some fun but also looks at the seriousness of our actions and the consequences they can have. This book was so good I have already picked up a few others by Clements to read with the kids. I highly recommend this book.

Books by Andrew Clements:
Bird Adalbert
Noah and the Ark and the Animals
Santa's Secret Helper
Temple Cat
Mother Earth's Counting Book
Billy and the Bad Teacher
Who Owns the Cow
Bright Christmas: An Angel Remembers
Frindle 
(Adapter)Philipp's Birthday Book
Riff's BeBop Book
Real Monsters Go for the Mold
Things That Go EEK on Halloween
Real Monsters Stage Fright
Music Time, Any Time
Double Trouble in Walla Walla
Workshop
Gromble's Haunted Halloween
Hey Dad, Could I Borrow Your Hammer
The Landry News
Look Who's in the Thanksgiving Play
The Mouse Family
The Janitor's Boy
Circus Family Dog
The Christmas Kitten
The School Story
Things Not Seen 
The Jacket 
A Week in the Woods
Slippers at Home
Naptime for Slippers
The Report Card
The Last Holiday Concert
Slippers at School
Slippers Loves to Run
A Million Is a Lot of Dots
Lunch Money
Things Hoped For
Room One: A Mystery or Two
No Talking
Things That Are
Lost and Found
Extra Credit
Troublemaker
About Average
The Map Trap
The Friendship War
The Losers Club
...

Pets to the Rescue Series
Ringo Saves the Day!: A True Story
Brave Norman: A True Story
Tara and Tiree, Fearless Friends: A True Story
Delores and the Big Fire: A True Story

Jake Drake Series
Jake Drake Know-It-All
Jake Drake, Bully Buster
Jake Drake, Teacher's Pet
Jake Drake, Class Clown

Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School Series
We the Children
Fear Itself
The Whites of Their Eyes
In Harm's Way
We Hold These Truths

Reading program Books
Karen's Island
Three Wishes for Buster
Bill Picket: An American Original, Texas Style
Hurricane Andrew
Ham and Eggs for Jack
Life in the Desert
Desert Treasure
Inventors: Making Things Better, Steck-Vaughn
Milo's Great Invention