# Frindle

**Author:** Andrew Clements
**Lexile:** 830L
**Grade range:** Grades 3–7
**Age range:** 8–12
**First published:** 1996
**Page count:** 105
**Genre:** Middle Grade Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780689818769`
**ISBN-10:** `0689818769`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/frindle
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Fifth-grader Nick Allen invents a new word — "frindle" for a pen — partly to test his strict language-arts teacher, and the coinage spreads beyond anything he expected. Andrew Clements turns a classroom prank into a gentle exploration of how words gain meaning and how ideas take on lives of their own. A staple of grade 3-7 classrooms, it is frequently used to launch lessons on vocabulary, creativity, and the power of language.

## Themes

- creativity
- language and thought
- intelligence
- school
- imagination

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