Frindle by Andrew Clements

Frindle by Andrew Clements
Atheneum Books for Young Readers 

Rating: 5 stars

After Lorelei begged me to read this for nearly half a year, I finally picked it up and read it in the crazy-busy last week of school. Much to the delight of the clutter in my kitchen, I'm never too busy to read! Lorelei is right--the book is hilarious and very worthy the praise it's received over the years.

(Frindle is a short chapter book and fine for kids to read on their own, but fun to read aloud with them.) 

Is Nick Allen a troublemaker? Not really. He just wants to make the time spent in his school a little more interesting, and when his usual pranks don't work with his new teacher, he has to get creative. Inspired by his teacher's love of words, and her very own explanation that we the English-speaking populace give credence to the definition of words, Nick invents a new word: "frindle." It means pen.

In just days the word spreads through the school, in weeks it goes beyond the school, and soon enough the word "frindle" is the next Big Thing in the country. It's hilarious to watch the debate between clever Nick and his teacher about whether he should get in trouble for this or not. I'm happy to report that relationships between the kids and grown ups in Frindle are respected though boundaries are pushed a bit...in an age-appropriate and above-average very funny way. Oh, and the ending is surprisingly tender-hearted. 

Without a doubt this is one of the best middle grade books I have read--so funny, so clever, so sweet! I continue to search for well-written books that feature great story lines and clever humor rather than cheap humor and yucky sarcasm. Some of the recent middle grade books that Lorelei and Ben have read in the past school year are just...not so awesome in my humble opinion. Yet Frindle is definitely in the category of Great Summer Read. Can't recommend this book enough for your summer reading list!

(And if you like it, Andrew Clements is known for mastering the middle school voice and has written dozens of chapter books about elementary and middle school! Click HERE for a list of his books.)

Big Al by Andrew Clements Yoshi

Big Al by Andrew Clements, illustrated by Yoshi

Rating: 5 fishy stars

An old friend recommended this book to me--she said that she used to read this book to her kindergarten class on the first day of school every year.  I was intrigued...it must teach a good lesson and be pretty captivating, right?

Yes and yes!

Big Al is the friendliest fish in the whole wide ocean, but he was pretty scary--he has googly eyes, big, sharp teeth, and is brown and monster-like.  He attempts to make friends (he hasn't a single one) by covering himself with seaweed, wiggling himself into the sand to look small, changing his color to match other fish, but nothing works.  So he "cries big salty tears into the big salty sea."  Poor guy!  To say that Yoshi makes him looks forlorn is an understatement.  But, after another failed attempt to make a single friend, a net catches a huge school of fish.  Big Al chomps the net and saves them, making him a friend to all.  I LOVE the picture of happy Big Al!  How can you not love a big galoot of a fish with a heart of gold?

I think the only drawback to this book is that, as I stated before, Big Al is pretty scary.  While we had it from the library Ben and Lorelei rarely chose it on their own to read.  But I would choose it and put it among the books designated for meal time or bed time or nap time, and they always enjoyed it.  For this reason, I think it is best used like my friend used, in school and to teach the oh-so important lesson of befriending even the odd-looking and odd-acting fish in the sea. 

Please, please, please let just half of the kids on Earth learn this!  What a better place schools would be.


P.S.  The illustrator, Yoshi, has a fantastic website at which you can purchase the print of happy Big Al and four other images from the book.