[.ca] Frindel / Frindle (ISBN 8424179358)

Frindle:
Frindle "From this day on, and forever, I will never use the word PEN again. Instead, I will use the word FRINDLE, and I will do everything possible so others will, too." Will this ever happen? This book, "Frindle" , is about a fifth-grade boy named Nicholas Allen, a troublemaker. He always wants to get out of doing home and schoolwork, by distracting the teacher. Now, he has a crazy idea to make the word, "pen", become, "frindle". The first theme in the book is that people need to understand each other. Everybody loves the word, "frindle" ; however a few adults dislike it. Two of them are Nick's parents. They keep telling Nick to end this situation, because it's so trouble-causing. Another adult who dislikes "frindle" is Mrs. Granger, Nick's strict language arts teacher. She needs to have people do what needs to get done no matter what happens or how much distraction there is. She wants words to be kept like the way they are now, since she adores the dictionary. This makes it even tougher for Nick to change the word. Nick's parents and Mrs. Granger don't understand how much Nick loves the word, "frindle." However, they should try to. The second theme is being helpful. It's much too difficult for Nick to change the word from pen to "frindle", all by himself, so he gets his classmates to lend a hand. Sometimes, Nick and his classmates don't bring a pen to class, and ask Mrs. Granger for a "frindle". She becomes furious! She punishes the children by giving detention! Later on, Nick's entire school gets detention, just for saying, "frindle", since they love the word. However, they all have a lot of perseverance, but they are also quite stubborn. This novel's genre is realistic fiction. It sets in a realistic place. The characters do not transform into an evil dragon. They are people. It has nothing to do with unicorns, or giant spiders. Also, this story can actually happen. As Andrew Clements, the author of this book, wrote "Frindle", he was thinking about many ways to make the story interesting. He described each character very well, so the readers can imagine them, even without pictures, (although there are already a few black & white pictures in the book). He writes about the characters' feelings, so the readers can really have a feel for the book. Andrew Clements knows how to write very good books. I rate this book as a 5/5 star book. When I was reading it, I tried not to stop. I could have read it continuously until I was done! This is one of my favourite books. Only one minor problem turns into a disaster! Will Nick convince everybody to use the word "frindle" and never ever use "pen" ever again, even Mrs. Granger? I'm not going to tell you. Instead, if you are a kid around ages from 8-12, read the book and find out what happens!