Frindle facts for kids
Front cover: Nicholas "Nick" Allen holding a "frindle", or pen
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| Author | Andrew Clements |
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| Illustrator | Brian Selznick |
| Cover artist | Selznick |
| Country | United States |
| Genre | Realistic fiction |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers |
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Publication date
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December 19, 1996 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover, paperback) |
| Pages | 105 pages |
| ISBN | 0-689-80669-8 |
| OCLC | 38482602 |
| LC Class | PZ7.C59118 Fr 1996 |
Frindle is a super popular children's book written by Andrew Clements. It was published in 1996 and illustrated by Brian Selznick. This book even won the Phoenix Award in 2016! This award is special because it celebrates great English children's books that didn't win a big prize when they first came out, but were still amazing.
Frindle was Andrew Clements's first novel. Before this, he mostly wrote picture books. Clements got the idea for Frindle by wondering: "What if a kid made up a new word, everyone loved it, but their teacher didn't?"
Contents
The Story of Frindle
Nick's Big Idea
The main character is a boy named Nicholas "Nick" Allen. He's known for being a bit of a class clown and always coming up with clever plans. When he starts fifth grade in 1987, Nick is not happy. His English teacher is Mrs. Granger, who is very strict and serious.
One day, Nick tries to avoid homework. He asks Mrs. Granger a tricky question about where every word in the dictionary comes from. But his plan backfires! Mrs. Granger tells him to write an essay about it instead.
The Birth of "Frindle"
From this experience, Nick learns something important. He realizes that people get to decide what words mean. Soon after, he finds a gold-colored pen on the street. He then decides to give the word "pen" a new name: frindle.
Nick's classmates love this new word. Very quickly, every child in the fifth grade starts using frindle instead of "pen."
The Word Spreads
Mrs. Granger tries to stop the new word. She makes any student caught saying frindle stay after school. They have to write lines as punishment. But this causes a big problem! Almost every student ends up staying after school.
The school principal visits Nick's house to try and stop the word. However, the situation is now too big for Nick to control. The word frindle cannot be stopped. It starts to get attention all over the country. A family friend even buys the rights to sell things with the word frindle on them.
The word frindle spreads across the nation. Nick thinks about all the trouble his one idea has caused.
A Surprise Ending
In the epilogue, Nick is grown up. Mrs. Granger sends him a new dictionary. This dictionary has been updated to include many new words, and guess what? The word frindle is in it!
With the dictionary, Mrs. Granger includes a letter. In her letter, she explains something amazing. She says she purposely fought against the word to make it even more popular. She knew that if she made a big deal about it, more people would use it.
Nick sends her a special gift back. It's the very first frindle that started everything. It's engraved with a message: "This object belongs to Mrs. Lorelei Granger, and she may call it any name she chooses."
Awards and Honors
Frindle has received many awards and honors. It's a very popular book!
- The U.S. National Education Association named Frindle one of the "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" in 2007.
- In 2012, School Library Journal ranked it number 38 among all-time children's novels.
- The book has won over 35 awards. Some of these include:
- Judy Lopez Memorial Honor Book (L.A.), Award 97
- 1998–99 Maud Hart Lovelace Award, MN Youth Rdg. Award
- Prize Cento, 1998, Cento, Italy
- Year 1999 Young Hoosier Book Award
- 2016 Phoenix Award
What's Next for Frindle?
The Frindle Files
A sequel to Frindle was published on August 27, 2024. It is called The Frindle Files. This new book takes place a generation after the first story. It was published by Random House. The cover art was created by Brian Selznick, who also illustrated the first Frindle book.
Film Adaptation
In 2015, there were plans to make Frindle into a movie. Mike Karz and Bill Bindley were going to produce it. Sam Harper was writing the script. Susan Sarandon was set to play Mrs. Lorelei Granger. As of 2024, no more news about the movie has been announced.
