My Thoughts on Frindle by Andrew Clements—Six Years Later!
I first read Frindle six years ago, back when I was nine years old in third grade. I distinctly remember my teacher at the time, Mr. Flodstrom, a tall man with neat brown hair starting to thin on top, a clean-shaven face, and a presence that was both approachable and authoritative. He was very enthusiastic when introducing this book as a class read, and—something unusual for a group of third graders just given a ton of reading work—the class seemed to enjoy it too. Even I liked it, and rereading it now has given me a whole new perspective on the story, along with the many subtle lessons it contains. Frindle is about Nick Allen, a curious and clever fifth-grader who, out of boredom, decides to make up a new word for pen: “Frindle.” Now that I’ve been a fifth-grader, I must admit this does indeed sound like something a fifth-grader would do. But unlike in the typical fifth-grade experience, Nick’s inside joke quickly spread from his classroom to across the entire nation, sparking debate...