40 Fun Facts About Frindle

In Frindle, third-grader Nick gets his classmates to turn Miss Deaver's room into what?

A tropical island took shape with paper palm trees, sand on the floor and the thermostat turned right up. The principal walked in to find the first-year teacher giving a hula lesson.

In Frindle, pupils swear that gum-spotting teacher Mrs. Granger has which superhuman power?

X-ray vision is the kids' only explanation for how she spots gum the instant it goes in. She is short and white-haired, yet one look from her dark gray eyes can make any student feel tiny.

In Frindle, how does Mrs. Granger answer Nick's stalling question about where words come from?

Mrs. Granger assigns him a report on it, to be given aloud the very next day. Nick's 'teacher-stopper' had sidetracked every teacher before her, and this time it only earned him extra work.

In Frindle, which school event do the fifth graders hijack by holding up pens and shouting?

The class photo could not be retaken, because the photographer had run out of film. So the fifth grade's official portrait that year shows every child holding up a pen.

In Frindle, Mrs. Granger's long-kept letter to Nick admits she chose to play which part?

The villain is the part she gave herself, because she saw that a good fight would keep Nick pushing his word. She had been rooting for frindle almost from the start.

In Frindle, on which morning does Mrs. Granger find a mystery gift left at her door?

Christmas brings a ring at the bell, nobody at the door, and a parcel she expects to hold a macaroni craft. Inside is a fountain pen engraved to say she may call it anything she likes.

In Frindle, grown-up Nick quietly gives a million dollars to set up what in Mrs. Granger's name?

A scholarship fund carries her name, set up by a former student who stays anonymous. The news arrives in an official letter from the superintendent, and she assumes it must be a mistake.

In Frindle, Nick pictures the clash between his mother and the school principal as part of which game?

Chess gives Chapter 9 its title: the principal is Mrs. Granger's queen and Mrs. Allen is Nick's. His mother wins the exchange by calling the whole fuss an overreaction to a harmless experiment.

In Frindle, what penalty does Mrs. Granger's notice promise any student caught saying the new word?

Copying lines in detention was meant to stamp the word out, but the kids wore it as a badge of honor. Soon so many were being kept behind that parents phoned the school to complain.

In Frindle, who does Mrs. Granger tell Nick really decides what the words in the dictionary mean?

The people who use them decide, she says, so a new word can reach the dictionary once enough speakers adopt it. That single answer hands Nick the plan that fills the rest of his school year.

In Frindle, which bird's high-pitched chirp does Nick copy all year to bother teacher Mrs. Avery?

A blackbird's shrill peep is hard for a hunter to trace, and it worked just as well in a classroom. Mrs. Avery wrongly blamed another pupil, said sorry, and never found out who was chirping.

In Frindle, Nick decides that Mrs. Avery's hooked nose makes his teacher look like which bird?

A hawk is just the sort of hunter that small birds baffle with shrill, hard-to-place calls, which is what gave Nick his idea. He kept the chirping going at least once a week until summer.

In Frindle, Mrs. Granger makes anyone caught chewing gum wear it pinned to their shirt on what?

An index card with the gum stuck on is safety-pinned to the culprit's shirt. It then has to come back the next morning with a parent's signature, so the lesson follows them home.

In Frindle, what must the Allen boys do first after school, a rule brother James later praised?

Their homework always came first, and James wrote home from college to say the habit had paid off in his grades. The rule never troubled Nick until Mrs. Granger's assignments arrived.

In Frindle, which game can Nick hear outside while he is stuck indoors researching dictionaries?

Baseball is under way in a friend's yard down the street on a beautiful September afternoon, while Mrs. Granger's 35 vocabulary words alone take Nick almost an hour.

In Frindle, where does Nick look next after his dictionary's own introduction proves too hard?

An encyclopedia for children comes off the family-room shelf first, then the adult set, of which he follows about half. Sure he cannot fill even three minutes, Nick suddenly gets an idea.

In Frindle, which 1700s dictionary maker does Nick describe during his very long presentation?

Samuel Johnson and his enormous dictionary leave the class in awe, and at first Mrs. Granger looks delighted. Eighteen minutes in Nick spots her sneaking a look at her watch and moves on to phase two.

In Frindle, toddler Nick's family knew that his made-up word 'gwagala' meant he wanted what?

Music was what he meant, and he would bang his cassette player and sing-along tapes together to get them played. Only at preschool did he find that nobody else understood him.

In Frindle, which adult learns the new word after Nick, Janet and four friends keep asking for one?

A saleslady at the Penny Pantry store has no idea what Nick wants on his first visit. By the time Janet asks, she only wants to know which color, and Nick decides his word is real.

In Frindle, what do Nick and five friends draw up in his playroom to launch the new word?

An oath never to say 'pen' again makes the six of them the word's first loyal users. When Mrs. Granger later asks Nick to call the whole thing off, he says he cannot break it.

In Frindle, what does Mrs. Granger ask Nick to do to the envelope holding her letter to him?

Mrs. Granger has him sign and date it across the back, so he can be sure later that nothing inside was changed. She promises to hand it over only when the whole fight is finished.

In Frindle, which school principal visits the Allen home to ask Nick's parents to end the fuss?

Mrs. Chatham phones on October first and comes that same evening, unsmiling, to explain that pupils no longer respect the rules. Nick's mother replies that it all sounds rather silly.

In Frindle, which frowned-upon word does Nick point out is already printed in the dictionary?

Ain't is the principal's example of a word the school forbids, raised to show why standards matter. Nick answers that it is in the dictionary, and for a moment none of the adults can reply.

In Frindle, which Westfield Gazette reporter puts the pupils' word war on the front page?

Judy Morgan hears from a coworker about a pupils' revolt and visits the school to investigate. In the parking lot she chats with a boy who says Nick will not talk to her, and he turns out to be Nick.

In Frindle, what does businessman Bud Lawrence do right after reading the newspaper story?

Bud Lawrence files a trademark claim and starts selling pens stamped with the word, which sell out within a week. Once the story goes national, his lawyer warns that he needs a deal with Nick's family.

In Frindle, how does Mrs. Allen signal during the TV interview that she will answer for Nick?

Mrs. Allen steps on his foot when the reporter asks whether Mrs. Granger's anger surprised him, then calls her a fine teacher. The family had agreed on the signal before the crew arrived.

In Frindle, which TV network's evening news carries Nick's story to some 20 million viewers?

CBS runs it as a closing segment after a part-time staffer at the local station spots the story in the Westfield paper. It is her first assignment ever to reach the national news.

In Frindle, the producer of which real late-night host's show sees Nick's story on the evening news?

David Letterman's producer is among the millions watching, as is a writer for a national magazine. Before long Nick is riding in limousines to TV studios and telling his friends all about it.

In Frindle, what kind of business does Nick's father keep being pulled away from by the fuss?

A hardware store is where Mr. Allen would rather be, so he gladly signs Bud Lawrence's contract to make the bother go away. The deal gives Nick 30 percent of the profit on everything sold.

In Frindle, Mr. Allen banks his son's first frindle check and asks Bud Lawrence to do what?

Bud agrees to keep the payments secret, because Mr. Allen wants Nick to learn to save on his own. That first check is for $2,250, and each later one goes into an account Nick knows nothing about.

In Frindle, Mrs. Granger keeps the battle alive by putting the word 'pen' on every single what?

Every spelling test now includes it, and every pupil gets it wrong on purpose by writing 'frindle' instead. It is the one small protest that carries on after the town calms down.

In Frindle, which part of school life does Nick's seventh-grade boycott plan end up improving?

The cafeteria food gets so good that the state superintendent visits to ask how Westfield did it. Nick had sat on the plan since fifth grade, too scared of causing another uproar to try it.

In Frindle, what color is the favorite pen Mrs. Granger holds up to Nick and later mails to him?

Maroon is the pen she waves at Nick while insisting on its proper name. Ten years on she sends it to him in a small case, with a note tucked under the clip that reads simply 'frindle'.

Frindle takes place at Lincoln Elementary School in the small town of Westfield, in which US state?

New Hampshire is home to the book's Westfield, a place so quiet that its weekly paper struggles for news. Once Nick's word catches on, the council votes to advertise the town as its home.

Frindle was its author's first novel, but what had he been writing for children since the mid-1980s?

Picture books were all he had published, so he first told Nick's story that way too, under the title Nick's New Word. Turning it into a novel took about four months of steady work.

Which Frindle illustrator later won the Caldecott Medal for The Invention of Hugo Cabret?

Brian Selznick drew Nick holding up his pen for the cover and went on to illustrate several more of the same writer's school stories. He also created the cover art for the 2024 sequel.

Which honor did Frindle receive in 2016, twenty years after it was first published?

The Phoenix Award goes each year to a children's book from two decades before that won no major prize at the time. Young readers had not waited: their votes gave Frindle state awards across America.

In Frindle, which part of the school day disappears when pupils reach fifth grade?

Morning recess disappears in fifth grade, the year pupils also start earning real letter grades. Worst of all, in Nick's eyes, it is the year everybody gets Mrs. Granger.

In Frindle, what does Nick buy for himself at twenty-one, along with a computer and some games?

A mountain bike is about as wild as his spending gets. He first talks his parents into taking money for travel and sets some aside for his two-year-old niece, then tries to forget the rest.

Which Oscar-winning actress signed on in 2015 to play Mrs. Granger in a planned film of Frindle?

Susan Sarandon was announced for the part in May 2015, with Sam Harper adapting the novel for the screen. Ten years later no film had appeared.