#tbt: Frindle by Andrew Clements

Image: Simon & Schuster

Frindle by Andrew Clements. 112 p. Atheneum Books for Young Readers/ Simon & Schuster, October, 1996. 9780689806698.

#tbt honors the memory of author, Andrew Clements, who died on Thanksgiving Day at the age of 70. Mr. Clements started his working life as a teacher but had interests in music as well. He shifted to the world of publishing as an editor, but soon began writing picture books and middle grade and YA novels. He had a special talent for school drama and spot-on tween and teen dialogue. A TMS favorite is Frindle, which published in 1996. Frindle is about a boy named Nicholas who challenged his teacher by insisting that he could rename a pen, frindle and that, it would be added to the dictionary because language changes according to usage.