Plot: When Nicholas Allen finally enters fifth grade, he meets his match in the form of Mrs. Granger, the language teacher. Despite Nick's best efforts, she catches his every attempt to avoid homework and waste class time. Yet, one of her lessons gives Nick the opportunity to fight back. According to Mrs. Granger, words have meaning because people give them meanings. With this fact in mind, Nick plans to implement his new word, "frindle," as a substitute for "pen." Through a network of friends, the word takes over the fifth grade, school, city, and, eventually, nation, despite Mrs. Granger's attempts to stop it. So why do her eyes sparkle whenever she hears the word?
Genre: Realistic
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Similar Titles: No Talking, The Lemonade War, Loser
Personal Thoughts: The novel captures the mentalities present in a school setting excellently. The children behave like kids, not like adults in kid suits. Every class has a smart but squirrely kid like Nick, but Clements reveals how such kids can make major changes. He also describes the one teacher every class dreads, but ultimately learns the most from.
As a side note, this is one of the few realistic novels I found that does not saturate itself in tragedy. I do not know who decided that children, teens, tweens, and adults like reading sad stories where no one wins, but whoever did was mistaken. True, sappy stories do not have much appeal, but this book shows a story can be realistic, with real problems, people, and consequences without painting the world in depression.
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