Frindle is a novel written by Andrew Clements, and illustrated by Brain Selznick. The plot behind Frindle is a class clown named “Nick Allen” who makes creative schemes throughout the school year. At the start of 5th grade, he is unhappy because his English teacher is the no-nonsense Mrs. Granger. One day, Nick decides to question Mrs. Granger on where each word comes from in the dictionary. This later backfires when Mrs. Granger challenges him to write an essay about it. When Nick learns that individuals get to determine what the words meaning the dictionary he comes across a gold – colored pen in the street, he decides to give the “pen” a new name; Frindle.

Nick’s classmates loved the idea, and eventually every kid in the fifth grade started using the word. Mrs. Granger makes any kid who says the word stay after school and write lines. This proves to be a problem because this causes every student to stay after school. The school principal goes to Nick’s house to put an end to the word, but later on realizes that this is beyond Nicks’s control and cannot be stopped. Later on, the word Frindle becomes a national sensation; family and friends buy merchandise rights to the word.

At the end of the book, Mrs. Granger finally makes a new dictionary and adds new words including the word Frindle. She eventually writes a letter and states that the reason why she stood against it was to make it more popular. Nick sends back a present to Mrs. Granger – the pen that started it all, engraving the words, “This object belongs to Mrs. Lorelei Granger, and she may call it any name she chooses.”