Frindle by Andrew Clements is a 1998-99 Hoosier Award Nominee for 4th through 6th Grades.

Nick Allen is a fifth grader and not only is he smart, but he is also a trouble maker. Nick loves to think up ways to get people bothered. But his teacher, Mrs. Granger, is the strictest teacher in the school, so there is a battle of wills. Both of them love words. When Nick convinces the other students to call pens "frindles," Mrs. Granger becomes really irritated. The newspapers pick up on the story and Bud Lawrence, one of the town's richest men, starts making pens called "frindles." In the end, it is Mrs. Granger who helps Nick stand up for what he believes in.

Rating:

Even though my whole family loves to play word games with each other, I really didn't like this book. There was some good humor in the book. In some ways, the book taught you to "stick up for what you believe in," but Nick wasn't a kid who respected authority, so I thought it taught a bad lesson. Since it is a Hoosier, there are a lot of people who wouldn't agree with me.

Frindle can be purchased through Amazon's in either paperback or hardback.