FRINDLE

-- Publishers Weekly, 7/15/1996

Andrew Clements, illus. by Brian Selznick. S&S/Aladdin, paper $4.50 ISBN 0-689-81876-9

Always one step ahead of his teachers, Nick not only can "Feel a homework assignment coming the way a farmer can feel a rainstorm" but can dream up a distraction to prevent the assignment from being given. In fifth grade, however, he meets his match in tough language-arts teacher Mrs. Granger. Just to get under her skin -- and despite her loud protestS -- he invents the word "findle" and convinces the whole school to use it instead of the word "pen." The word spreads to the city,nation and world, and Clements (Big Al) fast-forwards the story by 10 years to show that "findle" has made it into the dictionary. With this coup Nick gets a big surprise: the proof that Mrs. Granger was rooting for "frindle" all along. Like the Velveteen Rabbit, his well-worn word has become real. Dictionary lovers will cotton to this mild clasroom fantasy, while readers who have a hard time believing that one person could invent a word out of thin air will be surprised to learn that the word "quiz" was invented the same way. Ages 8-12. (Sept)