Frindle

Frindle

Module 4

SLIS 5420/Module 4/June 28-4

Book for this Module

Frindle by Kevin Henkes

Bibliographic

Henkes, Kevin. (2003). Olive's Ocean. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.

Summary
Frindle was about a boy named Nick who was a fifth grader that was pretty much a goof off. He was good at stalling time, side tracking teachers and simply wasting time for the class. Nick tried this with his fifth grade teacher and asked a question that his teacher sent him home to research. Since that point Nick found a pen and created a new word called frindle that replaced the word for pen. All the students picked up on it and the local newspaper was involved and with the persistent of not backing down the word frindle was eventually added to the dictionary.

My Impression
I was glad to see Nick take a chance and prove his teacher's theory on how words are added to the dictionary. I can also understand his teacher getting upset, but before long she must have realized that she had someone special in her class whom she had to admire, and by the letter he opened at a much later time in life proved to be the case.

Reviews
Booklist
Gr. 3^-6. 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. Kay Weisman--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Use in Library Setting
After reading this book students could conduct a survey to see who would be interested in changing the name of an object. They could continue to follow the usage if it caught on or not. We could come back and have a Q & A session to provide feedback on how well they thought it went, and if they felt this change would really take place.