Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Synopsis
Nicholas Allen is a 5th grade student with lots of great ideas on how to make school fun, but now he has Mrs. Granger for Language Arts and he knows that her x-ray vision and her no-nonsense personality will keep him in check. Mrs. Granger’s favorite book is the dictionary and she plans on giving her students lots of homework from it. What a boring year this will be! But after doing an extra research project on the origin of words, an idea for Nick’s greatest plan emerges. From now on, he’ll change the name of the word “pen” to “frindle.” Soon, all of his friends are in on the prank and Mrs. Granger is clearly annoyed at the nonsense. She, the principle, and even his parents ask him to stop, but by then the new word, frindle, has become popular not only in his school, but also in his town, his state and across the country. Is Nick disrespectful and a troublemaker or a hero?

I loved this imaginative tale about the power of words. Frindle is the winner of the Christopher Award, plus many others. In fact, the whole back cover of the book was just one long list of well-deserved awards. It’s a quick and easy read by a well-known author. Reading it makes me think that maybe we should all try inventing a new word.