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Frindle #2
The Frindle Files
One last gift to teachers and readers from Andrew Clements: A sequel to his most beloved, landmark book, Frindle. While the original is a love letter to writing and the power of words, The Frindle Files shows us that using those words carefully—that speaking up—can make all the difference.
Josh Willet is a techie, a serious gamer. Nothing’s better than writing code or downloading a new release. Which is why Mr. N’s ELA class is such a slog; it’s a strict no-tech zone. It feels like being stuck inside a broken time machine. Mr. N makes the kids write everything out on paper, he won’t use a Smart Board, and he’s obsessed with some hundred-year-old grammar book.
Then one night, while s-l-o-w-l-y finishing an assignment by hand, Josh discovers a secret. Turns out Mr. N’s been keeping a lot more than technology from his students! Josh and his best friend, Vanessa, are determined to solve the mystery and rally the other kids around their cause. And maybe—just maybe—get some screen time back, too.
More than 25 years after the publication of Frindle, and set one whole generation later, The Frindle Files is a gift left by the beloved Andrew Clements before he passed away. It’s a story that’s both timeless and timely—about the importance of language, of digging deep to find answers, and of challenging what you think you know to imagine what is possible. Filled with humor and Clements' potent, no-nonsense prose, The Frindle Files is an inspiring, thoughtful, remarkable novel that will grace children's and classroom shelves for another 25 years.
Josh Willet is a techie, a serious gamer. Nothing’s better than writing code or downloading a new release. Which is why Mr. N’s ELA class is such a slog; it’s a strict no-tech zone. It feels like being stuck inside a broken time machine. Mr. N makes the kids write everything out on paper, he won’t use a Smart Board, and he’s obsessed with some hundred-year-old grammar book.
Then one night, while s-l-o-w-l-y finishing an assignment by hand, Josh discovers a secret. Turns out Mr. N’s been keeping a lot more than technology from his students! Josh and his best friend, Vanessa, are determined to solve the mystery and rally the other kids around their cause. And maybe—just maybe—get some screen time back, too.
More than 25 years after the publication of Frindle, and set one whole generation later, The Frindle Files is a gift left by the beloved Andrew Clements before he passed away. It’s a story that’s both timeless and timely—about the importance of language, of digging deep to find answers, and of challenging what you think you know to imagine what is possible. Filled with humor and Clements' potent, no-nonsense prose, The Frindle Files is an inspiring, thoughtful, remarkable novel that will grace children's and classroom shelves for another 25 years.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published August 27, 2024
About the author
Andrew Clements
142 books2,279 followersI was born in Camden, New Jersey in 1949 and lived in Oaklyn and Cherry Hill until the middle of sixth grade. Then we moved to Springfield, Illinois. My parents were avid readers and they gave that love of books and reading to me and to all my brothers and sisters. I didn’t think about being a writer at all back then, but I did love to read. I'm certain there's a link between reading good books and becoming a writer. I don't know a single writer who wasn’t a reader first.
Before moving to Illinois, and even afterwards, our family spent summers at a cabin on a lake in Maine. There was no TV there, no phone, no doorbell—and email wasn’t even invented. All day there was time to swim and fish and mess around outside, and every night, there was time to read. I know those quiet summers helped me begin to think like a writer.
During my senior year at Springfield High School my English teacher handed back a poem I’d written. Two things were amazing about that paper. First, I’d gotten an A—a rare event in this teacher’s class. And she’d also written in large, scrawly red writing, “Andrew—this poem is so funny. This should be published!”
That praise sent me off to Northwestern University feeling like I was a pretty good writer, and occasionally professors there also encouraged me and complimented the essays I was required to write as a literature major. But I didn’t write much on my own—just some poetry now and then. I learned to play guitar and began writing songs, but again, only when I felt like it. Writing felt like hard work—something that’s still true today.
After the songwriting came my first job in publishing. I worked for a small publisher who specialized in how-to books, the kind of books that have photos with informative captions below each one. The book in which my name first appeared in print is called A Country Christmas Treasury. I’d built a number of the projects featured in the book, and I was listed as one of the “craftspeople”on the acknowlegements page, in tiny, tiny type.
In 1990 I began trying to write a story about a boy who makes up a new word. That book eventually became my first novel, Frindle, published in 1996, and you can read the whole story of how it developed on another web site, frindle.com. Frindle became popular, more popular than any of my books before or since—at least so far. And it had the eventual effect of turning me into a full-time writer.
I’ve learned that I need time and a quiet place to think and write. These days, I spend a lot of my time sitting in a small shed about seventy feet from my back door at our home in Massachusetts. There’s a woodstove in there for the cold winters, and an air conditioner for the hot summers. There’s a desk and chair, and I carry a laptop computer back and forth. But there’s no TV, no phone, no doorbell, no email. And the woodstove and the pine board walls make the place smell just like that cabin in Maine where I spent my earliest summers.
Sometimes kids ask how I've been able to write so many books. The answer is simple: one word at a time. Which is a good lesson, I think. You don't have to do everything at once. You don't have to know how every story is going to end. You just have to take that next step, look for that next idea, write that next word. And growing up, it's the same way. We just have to go to that next class, read that next chapter, help that next person. You simply have to do that next good thing, and before you know it, you're living a good life.
Before moving to Illinois, and even afterwards, our family spent summers at a cabin on a lake in Maine. There was no TV there, no phone, no doorbell—and email wasn’t even invented. All day there was time to swim and fish and mess around outside, and every night, there was time to read. I know those quiet summers helped me begin to think like a writer.
During my senior year at Springfield High School my English teacher handed back a poem I’d written. Two things were amazing about that paper. First, I’d gotten an A—a rare event in this teacher’s class. And she’d also written in large, scrawly red writing, “Andrew—this poem is so funny. This should be published!”
That praise sent me off to Northwestern University feeling like I was a pretty good writer, and occasionally professors there also encouraged me and complimented the essays I was required to write as a literature major. But I didn’t write much on my own—just some poetry now and then. I learned to play guitar and began writing songs, but again, only when I felt like it. Writing felt like hard work—something that’s still true today.
After the songwriting came my first job in publishing. I worked for a small publisher who specialized in how-to books, the kind of books that have photos with informative captions below each one. The book in which my name first appeared in print is called A Country Christmas Treasury. I’d built a number of the projects featured in the book, and I was listed as one of the “craftspeople”on the acknowlegements page, in tiny, tiny type.
In 1990 I began trying to write a story about a boy who makes up a new word. That book eventually became my first novel, Frindle, published in 1996, and you can read the whole story of how it developed on another web site, frindle.com. Frindle became popular, more popular than any of my books before or since—at least so far. And it had the eventual effect of turning me into a full-time writer.
I’ve learned that I need time and a quiet place to think and write. These days, I spend a lot of my time sitting in a small shed about seventy feet from my back door at our home in Massachusetts. There’s a woodstove in there for the cold winters, and an air conditioner for the hot summers. There’s a desk and chair, and I carry a laptop computer back and forth. But there’s no TV, no phone, no doorbell, no email. And the woodstove and the pine board walls make the place smell just like that cabin in Maine where I spent my earliest summers.
Sometimes kids ask how I've been able to write so many books. The answer is simple: one word at a time. Which is a good lesson, I think. You don't have to do everything at once. You don't have to know how every story is going to end. You just have to take that next step, look for that next idea, write that next word. And growing up, it's the same way. We just have to go to that next class, read that next chapter, help that next person. You simply have to do that next good thing, and before you know it, you're living a good life.
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September 3, 2024“Where do all the words in the dictionary come from?”
A child at a Rhode Island elementary school once asked a visiting picture book writer that deceptively simple question. Jumping over mountains of etymology, philology, semiotics and anthropology, the writer landed on a radical truth: “Words are just made up by people.”
To demonstrate that point, he pulled a pen out of his pocket and said, “We call it a pen, but it could have been called a . . . frindle.”
That little lesson on descriptive lexicography eventually inspired a beloved kids book. Published in 1996, “Frindle” — Andrew Clements’s first chapter book — went on to sell more than 10 million copies in 13 languages. It’s a quirky story about a fifth-grade boy named Nick Allen who disrupts his classroom and eventually the country with his campaign to invent a new word.
Clements’s wife, Becky, tells me, “For years people have been asking for a sequel.” But Andrew wouldn’t be rushed. He wanted to address the influence of computers and the difference between reading a book and scrolling a screen.
Just before he died in 2019, he completed a first draft of “The Frindle Files,” which has been released by Random House Books for Young Readers.
This is no frindy knockoff. More than 25 years later, it’s a fresh new story that brings back Nick Allen — now an adult — as an inspiring teacher with a fondness for E.B. White and an abiding suspicion of technology. When a computer-obsessed kid in his classroom decides to play a prank on him, their worlds get turned upside down. (In a sweet touch, Caldecott Medalist Brian Selznick, who designed the iconic cover of “Frindle,” has designed the cover of “The Frindle Files,” too.)
Once again, Clements demonstrates his uncanny ability to tackle complicated, serious issues in a story that’s warm, funny and accessible to middle-grade readers. While parents are trudging through Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” their grade-school kids will enjoy how “The Frindle Files” explores the challenges of the internet, including online addiction, e-book piracy, viral videos and privacy violations.
Near the end of “The Frindle Files,” Nick tells his sixth-grade students, “If I could, I would take away every screen from you and all your friends for at least another three years. I’m trying to....
To read the rest of this interview with Becky Clements, please go to the Washington Post Book Club newsletter:
https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw...
A child at a Rhode Island elementary school once asked a visiting picture book writer that deceptively simple question. Jumping over mountains of etymology, philology, semiotics and anthropology, the writer landed on a radical truth: “Words are just made up by people.”
To demonstrate that point, he pulled a pen out of his pocket and said, “We call it a pen, but it could have been called a . . . frindle.”
That little lesson on descriptive lexicography eventually inspired a beloved kids book. Published in 1996, “Frindle” — Andrew Clements’s first chapter book — went on to sell more than 10 million copies in 13 languages. It’s a quirky story about a fifth-grade boy named Nick Allen who disrupts his classroom and eventually the country with his campaign to invent a new word.
Clements’s wife, Becky, tells me, “For years people have been asking for a sequel.” But Andrew wouldn’t be rushed. He wanted to address the influence of computers and the difference between reading a book and scrolling a screen.
Just before he died in 2019, he completed a first draft of “The Frindle Files,” which has been released by Random House Books for Young Readers.
This is no frindy knockoff. More than 25 years later, it’s a fresh new story that brings back Nick Allen — now an adult — as an inspiring teacher with a fondness for E.B. White and an abiding suspicion of technology. When a computer-obsessed kid in his classroom decides to play a prank on him, their worlds get turned upside down. (In a sweet touch, Caldecott Medalist Brian Selznick, who designed the iconic cover of “Frindle,” has designed the cover of “The Frindle Files,” too.)
Once again, Clements demonstrates his uncanny ability to tackle complicated, serious issues in a story that’s warm, funny and accessible to middle-grade readers. While parents are trudging through Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” their grade-school kids will enjoy how “The Frindle Files” explores the challenges of the internet, including online addiction, e-book piracy, viral videos and privacy violations.
Near the end of “The Frindle Files,” Nick tells his sixth-grade students, “If I could, I would take away every screen from you and all your friends for at least another three years. I’m trying to....
To read the rest of this interview with Becky Clements, please go to the Washington Post Book Club newsletter:
https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw...
September 18, 2024
I wanted to read this book because I knew the author had passed (2019) before this was published, and, I really enjoyed his book, “Frindle.” Review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... I also appreciate that this is simplistically illustrated by Brian Selznick (other than the beautifully detailed cover), who is well-known for “Wonderstruck” and “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.”
Back in the 90’s, a kid named Nate, called a pen a “Frindle” which caught on. So, now sixth-grader Josh finds a pen with “Frindle” emblazoned on the side (a souvenir from his mom’s childhood). His curiosity and research leads him to challenge his teacher Mr. N. (Echos of Frindle?)
Taking the Frindle story into this era brings on online research and media acumen. There are also references to books, “The Elements of Style (about writing in English) and “The Zen of Python” (about writing code for computers), and “Charlotte’s Web.”
Could the children’s curiosity lead to a computer virus? How will that affect what they are doing?
Readers will gain insights into internet safety, the study of how language works; and, the how-to on viral internet campaigns.
This story gives a strong sense of friendship, teamwork, learning from mistakes and finding respect.
Be sure to read the note by Brian Selznick at the end of the book.
Reading level: Age 8+
Back in the 90’s, a kid named Nate, called a pen a “Frindle” which caught on. So, now sixth-grader Josh finds a pen with “Frindle” emblazoned on the side (a souvenir from his mom’s childhood). His curiosity and research leads him to challenge his teacher Mr. N. (Echos of Frindle?)
Taking the Frindle story into this era brings on online research and media acumen. There are also references to books, “The Elements of Style (about writing in English) and “The Zen of Python” (about writing code for computers), and “Charlotte’s Web.”
Could the children’s curiosity lead to a computer virus? How will that affect what they are doing?
Readers will gain insights into internet safety, the study of how language works; and, the how-to on viral internet campaigns.
This story gives a strong sense of friendship, teamwork, learning from mistakes and finding respect.
Be sure to read the note by Brian Selznick at the end of the book.
Reading level: Age 8+
August 25, 2024
What an absolute joy this was. It felt nostalgic and gave full-circle-moment at the same time. I read FRINDLE as an elementary schooler and again as a college student studying to be a teacher. Reading THE FRINDLE FILES as a middle school English teacher almost made me cry because Nick Allen grew up to be one too! I am so grateful for Andrew Clements’s family and publishers for getting his final book out posthumously. And I’m grateful to Libro.fm for offering it as a free Educator ALC this month!!
September 4, 2024
Mans really went into hiding
September 2, 2024
I’m happy for the people who read frindle as a kid and loved it to pick up this with their kids
August 31, 2024
The Frindle Files by Andrew Clements, illustrated by Brian Selznick
Frindle #2
204-page Libby Ebook
Genre: Middle-Grade Fiction, School Stories
Featuring: Author's Bibliography, Epigraphs, Graphics, Pictures, Titled Chapters, California, 6th Grade, Middle School, Secret Identity Trope, Secrets, Teachers, Homework, Texts, Ebooks, E. B. White, PDF Graphics, A Note from the Illustrator, The Initial Frindle Cover, The Final Cover,
Rating as a movie: PG
Books and Authors mentioned: The Elements of Style by E. B. White and William Strunk Jr., "Zen of Python" by Tim Peters, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, Stephen King
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟👨💻🖊
My thoughts: In 2019, my son and I read The Friendship War (originally planned as The Sixth-Grade Button War); it was good, but it wasn't our favorite. We had read all of Clements's middle-grade books and were pondering what he would write next. Then, months later, we got the news that Andrew Clements had died on Thanksgiving Day. I was heartbroken, but one selfish thought squeezed through. Did he write anything before he died? I mourned the loss of this brilliant man and the loss of stories. I was upset about it for years; it would creep up whenever I saw a book or his name. My kids and I read the Clements books together so he had become a part of our traditions. In December 2021, I reread The Last Holiday Concert and cried for half the book. There are only a handful of authors that touch my heart every time, and I had just lost a source, and I finally could accept that. Then, at the beginning of this month, I discovered a new Andrew Clements book was going to be released, a follow-up to the first book I read, and one of my go-to comfort reads Frindle. So, I was thrilled at the release of this book and interested in the huge gap in publishing. I was hesitant to start, but I was more excited. So, my son and I read the first 3 chapters together. He will only read it together, so I'm going to be rereading this tomorrow. Anyway, I enjoyed this story. it was fun; it didn't feel finished as the end was missing that heartfelt satisfaction his other books have, but it was a great book. It was only nearly finished when he died, so it checks. I also appreciate that I wasn't the only one who teared up at the end of Frindle, the illustrator, Brian Selznick also got tears over the happiness. I'm glad the family was able to share this final story with us. It's heartwarming to see his legacy continue. Andrew Clements is still one of my favorite authors.
Recommend to others: Yes! Be sure to read Frindle first.
Frindle
1. Frindle (1996)
2. The Frindle Files (2024)
Frindle #2
204-page Libby Ebook
Genre: Middle-Grade Fiction, School Stories
Featuring: Author's Bibliography, Epigraphs, Graphics, Pictures, Titled Chapters, California, 6th Grade, Middle School, Secret Identity Trope, Secrets, Teachers, Homework, Texts, Ebooks, E. B. White, PDF Graphics, A Note from the Illustrator, The Initial Frindle Cover, The Final Cover,
Rating as a movie: PG
Books and Authors mentioned: The Elements of Style by E. B. White and William Strunk Jr., "Zen of Python" by Tim Peters, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, Stephen King
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟👨💻🖊
My thoughts: In 2019, my son and I read The Friendship War (originally planned as The Sixth-Grade Button War); it was good, but it wasn't our favorite. We had read all of Clements's middle-grade books and were pondering what he would write next. Then, months later, we got the news that Andrew Clements had died on Thanksgiving Day. I was heartbroken, but one selfish thought squeezed through. Did he write anything before he died? I mourned the loss of this brilliant man and the loss of stories. I was upset about it for years; it would creep up whenever I saw a book or his name. My kids and I read the Clements books together so he had become a part of our traditions. In December 2021, I reread The Last Holiday Concert and cried for half the book. There are only a handful of authors that touch my heart every time, and I had just lost a source, and I finally could accept that. Then, at the beginning of this month, I discovered a new Andrew Clements book was going to be released, a follow-up to the first book I read, and one of my go-to comfort reads Frindle. So, I was thrilled at the release of this book and interested in the huge gap in publishing. I was hesitant to start, but I was more excited. So, my son and I read the first 3 chapters together. He will only read it together, so I'm going to be rereading this tomorrow. Anyway, I enjoyed this story. it was fun; it didn't feel finished as the end was missing that heartfelt satisfaction his other books have, but it was a great book. It was only nearly finished when he died, so it checks. I also appreciate that I wasn't the only one who teared up at the end of Frindle, the illustrator, Brian Selznick also got tears over the happiness. I'm glad the family was able to share this final story with us. It's heartwarming to see his legacy continue. Andrew Clements is still one of my favorite authors.
Recommend to others: Yes! Be sure to read Frindle first.
Frindle
1. Frindle (1996)
2. The Frindle Files (2024)
September 11, 2024
Go ahead & add this to the kids classics list.
August 27, 2024
A standalone sequel to the well loved book Frindle, The Frindle Files continues the story of a young man trying to make a point. Children of all ages will love this book.
Josh Willet is a computer nerd. He loves writing code and playing games, so his traditional language arts teacher, Mr. N’s class is a struggle. Josh doesn’t understand why everything has to be handwritten when it is so much easier to use the computer. He also doesn’t understand his teachers obsession with The Elements of Style.
One day while completing his homework Josh discovers a secret that shocks him. The secret sends him on a search for the truth and a campaign to get screens back in his classroom. Will his plan work or will his teacher win?
A lovely conclusion to the 1998 classic Frindle, this book had me cheering for a young boy with a point to prove and his passionate teacher. It was very nostalgic for me to return to a familiar character and to meet some new faces.
I was so grateful to receive an ARC from NetGalley. I truly loved this book and enjoyed how it tackled tech topics with humor and appreciation. I can’t wait to recommend it to young readers.
Josh Willet is a computer nerd. He loves writing code and playing games, so his traditional language arts teacher, Mr. N’s class is a struggle. Josh doesn’t understand why everything has to be handwritten when it is so much easier to use the computer. He also doesn’t understand his teachers obsession with The Elements of Style.
One day while completing his homework Josh discovers a secret that shocks him. The secret sends him on a search for the truth and a campaign to get screens back in his classroom. Will his plan work or will his teacher win?
A lovely conclusion to the 1998 classic Frindle, this book had me cheering for a young boy with a point to prove and his passionate teacher. It was very nostalgic for me to return to a familiar character and to meet some new faces.
I was so grateful to receive an ARC from NetGalley. I truly loved this book and enjoyed how it tackled tech topics with humor and appreciation. I can’t wait to recommend it to young readers.
August 31, 2024
Frindle has a special place in my heart, so I was anxious to read The Frindle Files. In this sequel, Nick Allen has grown up and become an English teacher himself. While the original story taught readers about the power of words, The Frindle Files continues that lesson with the added question of whether technology can add or detract from the potential of language and how it's used. I didn't find this book quite as charming as the original, but I am grateful for Andrew Clements' draft and for his family and publisher making Mr. Clements' last story available to readers. Three and a half stars rounded up.
February 23, 2025
Questo libro è un gioiellino.
Attraverso la storia romanzata di Josh e del rapporto "conflittuale" con il suo insegnante d'inglese, l'autore scrive un profondo e sentito omaggio alla scuola per ciò che è e deve sempre essere ossia un luogo in cui un giovane cresce e si forma.
All'interno della narrazione è presente anche una stimolante riflessione sull'importanza della scrittura creativa affiancata ad un buon uso della tecnologia.
Questo è uno dei romanzi che si trovano per caso e che, caso vuole, catturino a tal punto da far apprezzare ancora di più la lettura (e la scrittura).
Interessanti anche gli spunti letterari e le note finali della traduttrice.
Lettura suggerita a tutti non solo ai ragazzi. "Drillosissimo"!
Attraverso la storia romanzata di Josh e del rapporto "conflittuale" con il suo insegnante d'inglese, l'autore scrive un profondo e sentito omaggio alla scuola per ciò che è e deve sempre essere ossia un luogo in cui un giovane cresce e si forma.
All'interno della narrazione è presente anche una stimolante riflessione sull'importanza della scrittura creativa affiancata ad un buon uso della tecnologia.
Questo è uno dei romanzi che si trovano per caso e che, caso vuole, catturino a tal punto da far apprezzare ancora di più la lettura (e la scrittura).
Interessanti anche gli spunti letterari e le note finali della traduttrice.
Lettura suggerita a tutti non solo ai ragazzi. "Drillosissimo"!
June 28, 2024
What a pleasure it was to read an ARC of this last book by Andrew Clements.
Thank you NetGallery!
This new chess game between student and teacher over the gift that is writing and words and literature is just as brilliant as the original.
I appreciate that the author’s characters maintain respectful relationship with one another, while challenging one another to grow.
I love the nudge to older students to go ahead and reread the beloved classics from their early years.
Just lovely.
For Wilbur!
Thank you NetGallery!
This new chess game between student and teacher over the gift that is writing and words and literature is just as brilliant as the original.
I appreciate that the author’s characters maintain respectful relationship with one another, while challenging one another to grow.
I love the nudge to older students to go ahead and reread the beloved classics from their early years.
Just lovely.
For Wilbur!
August 1, 2024
Frindle has a special place in my teacher heart. Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC of Andrew Clement’s last book. It was a wonderful sequel and I hope kids will find the same sort of connection as they did with Frindle. Every student deserves a teacher who challenges them and shares the gift of words.
May 31, 2025
Frindle was one of my favorite books growing up, and The Frindle Files is an excellent sequel. It's just as smart, charming, and interesting as the first one, but in a more modern-day setting. It also works well as a standalone book (you don't have to have read Frindle - though if you haven't, you definitely should!).
The appeal of the first Frindle was in a student doing something clever and standing up to his teacher (in an appropriate way) - only to find out his teacher was, well, still teaching a lesson. That same vibe is captured here really well, only this time it's about using information you find online. What an important topic and lesson for us today. I won't even say today's kids because these are vital critical thinking skills which everyone should practice.
In this case Josh is all about computers, but his English teacher (Mr. Nicholas) is stubborn and insists on them using paper books and writing by hand. Josh is clearly smart, and computer science and coding teach valuable thinking too. But “when Josh had a problem to solve, he usually tried to turn it into a binary question - a simple question with only two possible answers, like true or false, yes or no.”
Throughout this book Josh learns that maybe life isn't that simple and that there can often be more than two possible answers. Josh learns (as does the reader) that you can't trust everything you find online. The book also touches on questions like "do you actually own a digital copy of a book" and presents advantages and disadvantages of online resources and print resources. And it's all done in a way that feels very approachable.
I will mention that Andrew Clements passed away before this novel was published. My understanding is he had a completed manuscript but it was the first draft. So I do wonder what might have been changed or edited if he had lived to see it published. Lucky for all of us, even that first draft is great.
I'm using it as a book discussion title with my middle school kids at the library this summer, and I think it will lead to some great conversations.
The appeal of the first Frindle was in a student doing something clever and standing up to his teacher (in an appropriate way) - only to find out his teacher was, well, still teaching a lesson. That same vibe is captured here really well, only this time it's about using information you find online. What an important topic and lesson for us today. I won't even say today's kids because these are vital critical thinking skills which everyone should practice.
In this case Josh is all about computers, but his English teacher (Mr. Nicholas) is stubborn and insists on them using paper books and writing by hand. Josh is clearly smart, and computer science and coding teach valuable thinking too. But “when Josh had a problem to solve, he usually tried to turn it into a binary question - a simple question with only two possible answers, like true or false, yes or no.”
Throughout this book Josh learns that maybe life isn't that simple and that there can often be more than two possible answers. Josh learns (as does the reader) that you can't trust everything you find online. The book also touches on questions like "do you actually own a digital copy of a book" and presents advantages and disadvantages of online resources and print resources. And it's all done in a way that feels very approachable.
I will mention that Andrew Clements passed away before this novel was published. My understanding is he had a completed manuscript but it was the first draft. So I do wonder what might have been changed or edited if he had lived to see it published. Lucky for all of us, even that first draft is great.
I'm using it as a book discussion title with my middle school kids at the library this summer, and I think it will lead to some great conversations.
September 25, 2024
This is the late Andrew Clements’s final work, published posthumously, and it’s very fitting and nostalgic. Don’t read this book if you are looking for exquisite prose, but I highly recommend it for middle grade readers.
The characters in The Frindle Files, like all Clements’s books, are good (maybe a little bland) kids from families that eat dinner together.
I appreciate how Clements surreptitiously includes interesting cultural literacy details; in this novel it’s E.B. White’s The Elements of Style writing handbook and coding. Ethical questions are pondered, and the power of language is explored. The pacing is fast, and plot is intriguing with a surprising and satisfying resolution. Something about this book was so cozy, and I enjoyed it enough that I bought a copy after reading one from the library.
While this sequel could standalone, I think familiarity with Frindle improves it.
The characters in The Frindle Files, like all Clements’s books, are good (maybe a little bland) kids from families that eat dinner together.
I appreciate how Clements surreptitiously includes interesting cultural literacy details; in this novel it’s E.B. White’s The Elements of Style writing handbook and coding. Ethical questions are pondered, and the power of language is explored. The pacing is fast, and plot is intriguing with a surprising and satisfying resolution. Something about this book was so cozy, and I enjoyed it enough that I bought a copy after reading one from the library.
While this sequel could standalone, I think familiarity with Frindle improves it.
June 24, 2025
What a GIFT to those of us who read Frindle when we were Nick Allen’s age. Mrs. Granger is one of the reasons I became a teacher, and getting to see her generational impact in this book was a beautiful payoff. Rest well, Andrew Clements.
July 30, 2025
I really enjoyed this sequel to Frindle! In my former life as a 5th grade teacher, I had a class set of Frindle and would use it in my Language Arts classes. I'm so glad to see the sequel holds up all these years later. 🖋
August 4, 2025
Ohhhhh.... IT GOT ME RIGHT IN THE NOSTALGIA.
Frindle was and is still one of my favorite books, and to have a sequel was unexpected but so amazing. I'm glad this was published, and my kids will be reading it soon too.
Frindle was and is still one of my favorite books, and to have a sequel was unexpected but so amazing. I'm glad this was published, and my kids will be reading it soon too.
November 18, 2024
So fun to have a sequel after so many years. Lost a full star due to Mr. N saying "'Get out a PEN and paper, please.'" (pg. 139, emphasis mine)
July 19, 2024
Grateful for the opportunity to read an early copy of the sequel of the much beloved Frindle. The original has always held a special place in my teaching heart, and now I’ve made room for its follow up.
Set 25 years after Frindle ends, 6th grader Josh (a code-loving, serious gamer techie) is at odds with his ELA teacher Mr. N, who runs class as a no-tech zone. After discovering a secret about Mr. N, Josh and his friend Vanessa decide to “hack” the classroom, rallying his classmates around his cause. With twists and turns throughout the story, both Frindle and its sequel are love letters to teachers and their students, encouraging the asking of questions and sharing the gifts of words, writing, and literature. A must read when published 8/27/24. For Wilbur!
Favorite lines:
Page 79:
Josh had a sudden realization. Finding the right word was like writing the right line of code. Once you got it, everything fell into place. He also realized that since his first day of sixth grade, Mr. N had been programming him, making him work at his writing - which was why he kept on looking for the right word now.
Set 25 years after Frindle ends, 6th grader Josh (a code-loving, serious gamer techie) is at odds with his ELA teacher Mr. N, who runs class as a no-tech zone. After discovering a secret about Mr. N, Josh and his friend Vanessa decide to “hack” the classroom, rallying his classmates around his cause. With twists and turns throughout the story, both Frindle and its sequel are love letters to teachers and their students, encouraging the asking of questions and sharing the gifts of words, writing, and literature. A must read when published 8/27/24. For Wilbur!
Favorite lines:
Page 79:
Josh had a sudden realization. Finding the right word was like writing the right line of code. Once you got it, everything fell into place. He also realized that since his first day of sixth grade, Mr. N had been programming him, making him work at his writing - which was why he kept on looking for the right word now.
July 16, 2024
Frindle left an impact on me when I read it years ago as a fourth grade teacher. To prepare for the sequel, I reread it. I am so glad I did. The Frindle Files takes up the story about 25 years later. This time Josh is a student who is determined to have his LA teacher, Mr. N, allow students to use laptops rather than write assignments by hand. Josh is a coder and resists the no tech zone established by Mr. N. As in Frindle, both teacher and students learn valuable lessons. As usual, the lessons are slipped in slyly with humor. The lesson includes appropriate use of technology. I’m cheering. As Andrew Clements’ farewell, he has left us with a masterpiece.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.
June 23, 2024
What an awesome swan song and tribute to an author I have come to love! Frindle was my first Andrew Clements book, and I shared it with vigor in my early teaching years. Now I will do the same with this, his final novel.
Josh has discovered something unexpected about his "old school" teacher, Mr. N. He is determined to use the info to win he and his fellow students the use of technology in his class. A teacher vs. student bout ensues, and of course, many lessons are learned.
Fans of Frindle will love it. It can be read without reading Frindle first. It will definitely inspire you to go pick it up (again).
I'm grateful to Netgalley for the ARC that allowed me to read it early!
Josh has discovered something unexpected about his "old school" teacher, Mr. N. He is determined to use the info to win he and his fellow students the use of technology in his class. A teacher vs. student bout ensues, and of course, many lessons are learned.
Fans of Frindle will love it. It can be read without reading Frindle first. It will definitely inspire you to go pick it up (again).
I'm grateful to Netgalley for the ARC that allowed me to read it early!
October 17, 2024
This was such a nostalgic and inspirational read. When i heard a sequel to Frindle was coming out i knew i had to read it! I don’t care if I’m 25, the original book made me so happy when I was in grade school. I appreciate how the book takes a stand against piracy and advocates for the mental health of children and the impact of screen time. All of the characters and plot were well thought out. And the narrator for the audiobook really gave life to the story in an appropriate tone. I hope no one ever pirates this book! I borrowed from my library.
May 30, 2025
Several years ago I was so sad to hear that author Andrew Clements died. Our family had really enjoyed his family friendly middle grade books and it was sad to realize that we wouldn't have anymore Andrew Clements stories. I was surprised to see this book as a new release and so glad to find out that his last novel was published after his death. I love the way his adult and child characters interact and mature together. The audio narration is great.
September 24, 2024
What a great follow-up to one of my favorite middle grade novels, and one of my most recommended as a children’s librarian. This was Clements’s final gift to readers before he passed away in 2019- it was nearly completed. This story is fresh and modern, but true to the beloved classic in its respect for young students, their intelligence, and their quest to make their mark. This was a true treat!
May 13, 2025
The beginning of this felt so nostalgic and I was so excited I listened to it all in one day but by the middle I realized the theme was going to be the star not the story. Andrew Clements obviously hates plagiarism and kids on devices. not bad thoughts but a children's book isn't the soap box I would use.
September 23, 2024
The Most Wonderful Sequel
I’ll admit it. I am a sucker for Nick Allen. So when I heard there was a sequel to Frindle, i wanted to be the first to read it. Simple put, this book did not disappoint. Andrew Clements exceeded my very high expectations. Take Frindle, add a tech twist and 20ish years and you’ll have The Frindle Files. Trust me, you’ll be delighted by this book.
I’ll admit it. I am a sucker for Nick Allen. So when I heard there was a sequel to Frindle, i wanted to be the first to read it. Simple put, this book did not disappoint. Andrew Clements exceeded my very high expectations. Take Frindle, add a tech twist and 20ish years and you’ll have The Frindle Files. Trust me, you’ll be delighted by this book.
January 18, 2025
Frindle was my absolute favorite book growing up, it was fun to revisit my childhood through this sequel. Grateful for Andrew Clement’s family and friends for being able to get this book out posthumously <3
June 14, 2025
4.5 ⭐️
So cute and fun. Loved the themes of inspiring leadership in children and encouraging them to be proactive. I feel like the author is a fellow 7 habits fan. Also love warning kids against the dangers and other issues related to piracy.
So cute and fun. Loved the themes of inspiring leadership in children and encouraging them to be proactive. I feel like the author is a fellow 7 habits fan. Also love warning kids against the dangers and other issues related to piracy.
August 2, 2024
Profound, powerful, emotional- Especially for those wonderful adults who wonder, "Am I really making a difference?" after working with young readers.
August 16, 2024
Frindle was one of my fave read alouds. I loved this story!! It would so much fun to read both with kids and talk about them.
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