Randall Elementary School loves to celebrate March is Reading Month and this year, the school is collectively reading "Frindle" by author Andrew Clements.
"Frindle" is a 1996 children's novel that marked Clements' first book. It was illustrated by Brian Selznick. Clements' got the idea for the book when he thought, "What would happen if a kid started using a new words, and the other kids really liked it, but his teacher didn't?"
That led directly to the fifth-grade character, Nick Allen, who is unhappy with his English teacher, Mrs. Granger, and ends up creating a new name for the pen: frindle. Classmates love the name and every child in the school starts using it. Mrs. Granger resists, because using frindle disrespects the word, pen. Eventually, Mrs. Granger forces all the children to stay after school, upsetting parents and even bus drivers ...
An epilogue in the book shows Nick as an adult in his new house. Frindle has become a common part of the language. A businessman friend of Nick's father bought the rights to the word and made Nick a very rich man. Mrs. Granger sends him a new copy of the dictionary, recently updated including the word "frindle." She includes a letter, explaining that she intentionally stood against the word to make it more popular.
Nick sends her back a gift: A gold pen. On it, it says, "This object belongs to Lorelei Granger and she may call it any name she chooses to."
Randall pupils are enjoying their school-wide reading assignment. A school book exchange is coming.
Mrs. Szwed's fifth-grade class took time to recreate a scene from "Frindle" (photo above).
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