The Frindle Files

Gr 3-7–Josh’s teacher Mr. N is so old-school, he has banned all tech in his class and requires handwritten assignments. When using his mom’s pen, Josh is surprised to see the word frindle written on it. Research informs him that 20 years ago, a fifth grader named Nick Allen changed the word pen to frindle and the new word went viral among children. The picture of Nick looks uncannily like Mr. N, prompting Josh and his best friend, Vanessa, to investigate. This fast-paced novel keeps readers guessing as Josh’s plan to reveal Mr. N as Nick Allen shifts to a fight to use technology in the classroom, then a quest to track down an ebook pirate. Published five years after Clements’s death, this surprise sequel to the 1996 Frindle stands alone; it might even be more fun for tweens to read the books in reverse order and meet Mr. N before Nick Allen. Jake and his classmates have much in common with young Nick and his Frindle classmates; tweens will find their independence and empowerment exciting. Especially enjoyable are the relationships between students and teachers, and how adult and child characters move on from mistakes and misconceptions. The book also serves as a teaching tool for evaluating sources on the internet. Few clues other than last names describe the ethnicity of the characters; most read as white, and some characters have Latinx surnames.