“Frindle” by Andrew Clements

Interest Level: Grades 4-6

Actual Grade Level: 4.8

Lexile Level: 830L

“Frindle” by Andrew Clements, c1996, is about a boy named Nick Allen, who enjoys making his school “more cool”. In his third grade classroom, Nick creates a tropical party, complete with sand, and in fourth grade, he initiates a bird peeping noise (to emulate his teacher’s beak-shaped nose), that other students join in with. The sound and the fact that she can’t pinpoint a certain student, annoys his teacher to no end.

Now Nick has reached fifth grade. It is time for preparation for middle school and he has a very serious teacher named Mrs. Granger. She is a dictionary fanatic. Nick, however, is the opposite! He likes words, but not dictionaries. Already, at the very beginning of the year, he feels like it is going to be a very long one! You’ll have to read this book to see what happens with Nick during this year in Mrs. Granger's classroom. A clue is that, again, it has to do with something Nick creates. Also, another clue is that Mrs. Granger does not like made-up words, whereas Nick does. At only 105 pages long, the story, a classic, is short, but a lot of fun. I had wanted to read “Frindle” for some time and I’m glad I did!

Submitted by Karin