Frindle is one of the most entertaining kids' books out there because it encourages kids to be bold and creative and wait for big results. I love the way the fun premise turns out to be a sneaky way to teach kids about etymology and the evolution of language. This one goes to the top of the class!

My daughter read this. Basically, some kids start a movement to call pens "frindles." That's the point. The sort of annoying behavior we see in real life is also annoying when depicted in pointless fiction like this. My 10-year old avid reader is a sharp and qualified critic, and she didn't like this one.

This book should be a classic, it demonstrates how a child can rebel against his teachers and yet do it in a positive way. Nick Allen is a bit of a troublemaker in school; he has many "good" ideas and is always trying them out. He reaches fifth grade, and the only language arts teacher is the elderly Mrs. Granger. When one of his ideas goes astray, Nick is required to develop a presentation to the whole class. In typical Nick style, he develops a long presentation that effectively uses up the entire class period.
In response to Mrs. Granger's statements about the meaning of a word being based totally on how it is used, he starts calling a writing pen a frindle. The idea catches on with the other students in the school, over the opposition of Mrs. Granger and the principal. Children are required to stay after school and write one hundred times: "I am writing this punishment with a pen."
The punishment becomes a badge of honor among the students and it draws the attention of the local paper and then the news media. Once the national news media picks it up, Nick is a star and the school is forced to back down. A local businessman starts to market pens engraved with the phrase "frindle" as well as t-shirts and other merchandise. Nick becomes wealthy and the story closes with two points. The first is that Nick donates a large sum of money for scholarships and he learns that Mrs. Granger was in fact rooting for him all along.
The story is charming because it is similar to many of the biographies of successful people. Even when young, they were different, often rebellious and their teachers had a difficult time with them. They were inquisitive, puzzled and always trying to do new things. By presenting this story with a very successful and happy ending, Clements gives heart to all children who are like Nick.

I made the mistake of pulling out this book while I was waiting for a doctor's appointment. The nurse called my name three times before I realized she was talking to me. :)

The story drew me in, and Nick Allen's likable character was established right away - he's creative and confident, and it's easy to see why most kids like him. It was refreshing to read a story that didn't have the usual conflict between students, or the usual evil-teacher-good-student plot line. Frindle had me laughing out loud, yet sad that it was so short. This is a book I'm going to set aside for my own kids to read when they're old enough.

THE BOOK WAS BOUGHT AT THE LAST MINUTE AND SHOWED UP AT MY DOOR STEP IN JUST ENOUGH TIME TO BE GIVEN AS A GIFT FOR A RETIRING TEACHER. IT ARRIVED IN SUPERIOR QUALITY AND OUR TEACHER FRIEND WAS VERY HAPPY TO REC'V THE HARDBOUND COPY.
THANKS FOR EXPEDITING THE DELIVERY AMAZON,AND FOR THE GREAT PRICE!

RAY

My favrit chracter is Nick because he invinted the word frindle.
If your looking for a five star book I reccomend
Frindle.
I think my favrite part was when every one started to use the word frindel and the battal between nick and mrs.Granger
began.

My favorite chacter was Nick because he Made up his own word. I wish I could make up my own own word. So I could be rich and provide my family with what they need. I would just apsulutley love to be famous because everyone would know me. Ithink Nick should give Mrs.Granger some of is money so she coul'd go ahead and retire but still be rich. My favorite part of the book was whe the word frindel was put in the dictnarey. If I could make up my own word it wouldn't be as good as Nick Allen's word.
By. Jon From Kentucky

Frindle!" Nick screams as Ms. Granger says they only use words in the dictionary.
Nick has an English teacher Ms. Granger who said "Only use words in the dictionary." So Nick made up a new word for pen, "frindle." Ms. Granger hates it and punishes kids greatly if they use the word frindle. Soon, Nick gets famous for it. He is on the national news and he gets rich off of Frindle merchandise.
I would recommend Frindle to everyone because it is hilarious, suspenseful, and has interesting characters.
Frindle has many funny parts like when Nick invents the word "frindle." It is funny because people don't normally make up words and it is funny to think of a pen as a frindle. Also it is funny how much he obsesses over using frindle instead of pen. Another funny part is when Ms. Granger freaks out over the word frindle. She makes the kids stay after school if they use the word. She also makes them write "I am writing this sentence with a pen" 100 times. When they do this they never write the word pen, they always use frindle. One other funny part is when frindle merchandise sells like crazy. It is funny because you would never think Nick would have that much success on his own. Also it is funny that factories were jammed with orders and that frindle had trademarks in Japan and Hong Kong.
Frindle has many interesting characters, like Nick. It is neat how he avoids homework by asking questions and it is unusual he made up a word everybody loves. Also he got very rich off frindle merchandise. Ms. Granger is interesting because most people aren't obsessed with the dictionary like she is. She sent out a letter to Nick in summer telling him to buy a dictionary before school started. Also she is so strict it is almost funny. Bud Lawrence is also interesting he wanted to sell frindle merchandise. It is unusual how many fast food restaurants he owns and that he gets tons of frindle trademarks.
Frindle also has some suspenseful parts, like when Nick is being interviewed for CBS. It is suspenseful because he is on national TV and it might be embarrassing if he flubbed up. Also people might not like Nick depending on what he said. Another suspenseful part is when Nick's parents and Ms. Granger have a talk. It is suspenseful because Nick could be in trouble. Nick might have to stop using the word frindle and he might be in trouble. One other suspenseful part is when Nick talked about frindle at school. Nick and everybody else said frindle and held up a frindle and when everybody asked Ms. Granger if they could borrow a frindle. It is suspenseful because they might get in trouble. Also they might get in trouble with the parents.
Frindle is hilarious, has many interesting characters and suspense, and because of that and more I would recommend this to just about anyone.

Frindle was an awesome book. It started when Nick Allen asked,
"How words were made?" Mrs. Granger, the schools English teacher, made him do a report on it, so he could learn about it. In his report Nick learned that words were just made up. Nick had an idea; he would replace a work by making up one. He needed a popular word to replace; Nick replaced with Frindle. It was a funny word but Mrs. Granger did not like the looks of it. Then it was war, war of the words. I totally loved this story, and I hope you read it.

I know smart aleck kids like Nick. (Oh, but he wasn't a smart aleck! He actually respected and loved Mrs. Granger, right? Wrong. This is definitely fiction.) My sympathy lies with Mrs. Granger. How much learning went undone in fifth grade because of Nick's idiotic idea? In real life many kids who were in school to learn would detest him too, because of his hijacking of the school day with his selfish prank. I detested the ending, when Mrs. Granger capitulates. That's so phony. The entire book is phony because most kids like Nick go on to lead troubled lives, not become millionaires. Most millionaires I know are people who respected authority as kids and become authority as adults. The person with a good idea in the book is Bud Lawrence, who snatched up the trademark and made some money. If it weren't for him, Nick and his clueless dad would still be working in the hardware store.

I liked the book Things not seen.I give Things not seen 5 stars. I enjoyed the book because in some parts,it makes you want to read more, and more. For instance, in the begining of the book, Bobby takes a shower and after he gets out, he is not there. He thinks that the mirror is too fogged up, so he wipes it with his hand. He still can']t see himself. He still isn't there. Also, this book has alot of action. For example, Bobby's parents get in a car accident. Bobby has to stay home without letting other people know that he is invisible. thereofre, I think that this book is really good.

Though "Frindle" is quite nicely written, a rating of one star is one star too many. If booksellers care about children's minds they will voluntarily withdraw "Frindle" from their shelves.

The first half of the story makes Nick likeable and shows how his "frindle" word emerges as a substitute for the word "pen". The second half *contrives* "frindle's" national acceptance and its eventual entry into a dictionary, and then adds a feel good ending.

The main idea is that any letter combination and sound can become a lasting "word" if a majority decides it should. This reflects the bankrupt logic that academics used in the 1990s to accept the ghetto-speak of Ebonics as a language. The tragic lesson for children: words are any noise people might make about things!

The story's only voice of resistance is Mrs. Granger. But Clements's characterization of her is a cheap smear of the view she represents. He makes her character so prim and proper that her belief in frugal language is easily dismissed as stubborn traditionalism. She does defend "pen" as having arisen from the Latin for feather (pinna). And later, she comments "There is no reason to invent a new and useless word." The vital logic to which both points hint is ignored.

Instead, Clements turns our attention to the `tide' of public acceptance that frindle acquires. He designs more media attention for the cause of "frindle" than suicide bombers get. So, Nick's new word is widely accepted, completing Clements's theme. Worse, we discover that Mrs. Granger really held Nick's view all along.

Intellectually, Mrs. Granger, and all of "Frindle", constitutes a Straw Man argument. A "straw man" is a contrived argument that seems like the one to beat, but lacks the substance of the real argument it hides. The person who creates the straw man presents his arguments to destroy it, and then claims to have won the real argument. Mrs. Granger never had a real argument against "frindle", and the child reader is left thinking the only truth is Nick's. This is a terrible manipulation of child readers.

Clements has "set children up" to misunderstand language.

His theme ignores how the history of words contributes to the interrelationships of *meaning* between words. Those interrelationships enable us to recognize variants, and quickly grasp shades of meaning, in a way that arbitrary sounds and spellings cannot. Consider "happy" and the less common "happenstance". Both come from Middle English "hap" which meant "luck" (of Dutch origin). We can see that "happy" has serious underlying implications. It takes on more importance than just a noise about a feeling. Similarly, "Pen", arising through "feather pen" and "pinna" (feather) has more *meaning* than "frindle", period. "Pen" was not an arbitrary invention and, likely, "pinna" was not either.

His theme also ignores the importance of words as two-way pointers. First, a word points to a real thing `out there' in the world -it may be an object, or an equally real abstraction such as "happiness". Words are often chosen to reflect the essential nature of the thing to which they point. This makes them more immediately comprehensible: pinna for feather pen makes sense! Second, the same word points to the mind's collection of ideas and facts about that particular thing. It directs our mind to links we have made with other words, e.g. we can picture Thomas Jefferson and a bottle of India ink.

Anyone who knows "teacup" and "poodle" can predict how small a Teacup Poodle might be, the first time they hear of it. If words were arbitrary noises, without a history, such pointer connections as these would be hard to retain, and combinations like "Teacup Poodle" would be much harder to grasp. If, as "Frindle" encourages, we were to multiply our pointers with "new and useless words' the confusion would do more damage than hinder communication. Ultimately, Clements's "Frindle" is an attack on thinking! He has written an argument that attacks the very tool he relies on. The damage to children is inestimable.

That "Frindle" was acceptable to editors and publishers suggests its theme and plot reflect their own view of language -it is no wonder few children like to read.

P.S. to E.R. Bird: OED logically rejects Clements's myth about the origin of "quiz".