''Frindle'' is a middle-grade American children's novel written by

Andrew Clements Andrew Elborn Clements (May 29, 1949 – November 28, 2019) was an American author of children's literature. His debut novel '' Frindle'' won an award determined by the vote of U.S. schoolchildren in about 20 different U.S. states. In June 2015 ...

, illustrated by

Brian Selznick Brian Selznick (born July 14, 1966) is an American illustrator and author best known as the writer of ''The Invention of Hugo Cabret'' (2007), '' Wonderstruck'' (2011), ''The Marvels'' (2015) and ''Kaleidoscope'' (2021). He won the 2008 Caldecot ...

, and published by the company

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...

in 1996. It was the winner of the 2016

Phoenix Award The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the bo ...

, which is granted by the

Children's Literature Association The Children's Literature Association (ChLA) is a non-profit association, based in the United States, of scholars, critics, professors, students, librarians, teachers, and institutions dedicated to studying children's literature.Margaret W. Denman- ...

to the best English-language children's book that did not win a major award when it was published twenty years earlier. ''Frindle'' was Clements's

first novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

; all of his previous works had been picture books. According to Clements, the book originated from the thought, "What would happen if a kid started using a new word, and other kids really liked it, but his teacher didn't?"

Plot

Nicholas "Nick" Allen is a class clown who has been formulating creative schemes throughout

grade school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. At the start of

fifth grade Fifth grade (called Grade 5 in some regions) is a year of education in many nations, and some other regions call it Year 5. In the United States, the fifth grade is the fifth and last year of elementary school in most schools. In other schools, it ...

in 1987, he is unhappy because his English teacher is the no-nonsense Mrs. Granger. One day, in an attempt to forestall, Nick decides to question Granger on where each word in the

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...

comes from. This backfires, as Mrs. Granger assigns him an

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

about it. From this experience, Nick learns that individuals get to determine what words mean, and when he comes across a gold colored pen in the street, he decides to give a "pen" a new name: ''frindle''. Nick's classmates really like the idea and soon, every child in the fifth grade starts using the word ''frindle''. Mrs. Granger makes any students who are caught saying ''frindle'' stay after school and write lines, but this proves to be a problem, as this causes almost every student to stay after school. The

school principal A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school ...

decides to visit Nick's house to end the use of ''frindle'', but the situation is beyond Nick's personal control, and the word's usage cannot be curtailed. ''Frindle'' starts to gain national attention, and a family friend purchases the

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

rights to the word. The word ''frindle'' spreads across the nation, and Nick thinks through the trouble that this one scheme has caused. In the

epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the w ...

, Nick is a young adult. Mrs. Granger sends him a new copy of the dictionary, recently updated to include new words, including the word ''frindle''. She includes a letter, in which she explains that she intentionally stood against the word in order to make it more popular. Nick sends back a present — the pen that started it all,

engraved Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

with the words, "This object belongs to Mrs. Lorelei Granger, and she may call it any name she chooses."

Awards and honors

The U.S.

National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college stude ...

named ''Frindle'' one of "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" based on a 2007 online poll. In 2012, it was ranked number 38 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

'', a monthly with a primarily U.S. audience. The book has received more than 35 awards and honors, including among other schoolchildren's choice awards: *Judy Lopez Memorial Honor Book (L.A.), Award 97 *1998–99 Maud Hart Lovelace Award, MN Youth Rdg. Award *

Prize Cento The Children's Literature Prize "Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cento" is an international competition aimed at authors of children's books (elementary and middle school) in Italian, original or translated. Origins The Prize Cento was establish ...

, 1998, Cento, Italy *Year 1999 Young Hoosier Book Award * 2016

"Phoenix Award"
. Children's Literature Association (childlitassn.org). June 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-13.

Film adaptation

In 2015, it was announced that a film adaptation was in development with Mike Karz and Bill Bindley producing and

Sam Harper Sam Harper is an American filmmaker. Career Harper was born into an artistic family with a father who was a painter and a mother who was a writer. After college, he worked as a reporter and associate editor for the advertising industry trade ...

frindleing the script.

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...

signed on to portray Mrs. Lorelei Granger. , no further development has been announced.

References

External links

* {{authority control Books by Andrew Clements American children's novels 1996 American novels Novels set in elementary and primary schools 1996 children's books 1996 debut novels