Frindleis a 1996 children's novel written by AmericanauthorAndrew Clements and illustrated by Brian Selznick. Frindle was Clements's first novel. All his previous works had been picture books. Clements described the idea as having come to him in the form of the thought, "What would happen if a kid started using a new word, and other kids really liked it, but his teacher didn't?" At the start of fifth grade, Nicholas "Nick" Allen is unhappy because his English teacher is the much-disliked Mrs. Granger. One day, to stall for time in class, Nick decides to question where each word comes from. After hearing Mrs. Granger's explanation, and having to write an essay about it for homework, he creates a new name for the pen: "frindle". His classmates really like the idea and soon, every child in school is using the word. It starts to gain national attention at that point. Mrs. Granger dislikes this new word because she thinks it is not respectful to the word "pen", which has a long history. She makes children stay after school and write lines for saying the word "frindle", but this proves to be a problem, as almost every pupil has to stay after school. Parents complain, and the bus drivers that have to work overtime are also unhappy. The principal decides to visit Nick's house to end the use of the word, but the situation is out of Nick's hands now, and the word's usage cannot be controlled. At one point, a person puts up a sign in town advertising the word "frindle" and another person, one of his dad's longtime friends makes merchandise with the word "frindle" somewhere on it. The epilogue shows Nick as an adult in his own house. At this point, the word "frindle" became a common part of the language. He becomes very rich from the fund of his dad's longtime friend, and Mrs. Granger sends him a new copy of the Dictionary, recently updated to include new words, including "Frindle". She also includes a letter, where she explains that she intentionally stood against the word in order to make it more popular. He sends back a present, a gold pen with Mrs. Granger's name on it saying, "This object belongs to Lorelei Granger and she may call it any name she chooses to."