BOOK SUMMARY: Ten-year-old Nick Allen has a reputation for devising clever, time-wasting schemes guaranteed
to distract even the most conscientious teacher. His diversions backfire in Mrs. Granger's fifth-grade class,
however, resulting in Nick being assigned an extra report on how new entries are added to the dictionary.
Surprisingly, the research provides Nick with his best idea ever, and he decides to coin his own new word.
Mrs. Granger has a passion for vocabulary, but Nick's (and soon the rest of the school's) insistence on
referring to pens as "frindles" annoys her greatly. The war of words escalates--resulting in after-school
punishments, a home visit from the principal, national publicity, economic opportunities for local
entrepreneurs, and, eventually, inclusion of frindle in the dictionary.
Slightly reminiscent of AVI's Nothing but the Truth (1991), this is a kinder, gentler story in
which the two sides eventually come to a private meeting of the minds and the power of language
triumphs over both. Sure to be popular with a wide range of readers, this will make a great read-aloud as well.
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