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Head of the Class (Boxed Set): Frindle; The Landry News; The Janitor's Boy
Andrew Clements has been hailed by the New York Times as "a proven master at depicting the quirky details of grade school life." His books have won countless state awards and have appeared on New York Times bestseller lists. Now three of his most beloved books, including the contemporary classic Frindle , are available in this handsome boxed set. Includes the books Frindle, The Landry News , and The Janitor's Boy .
416 pages, Paperback
First published October 2, 2007
4 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Clements
193 books2,154 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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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 19, 2008
Very creative book. I really think it will inspire young students to "think outside the box" and recognize the power they have to accomplish great things. A very fun, short read that I plan to keep in my classroom.
June 25, 2013
80minutes
7wards
hero/newspaper/TV/pen/company/rich/better
Q1 many reporter visited him to get information about frindle. have you ever been written your name on newspaper?
A1 yes, i have. when i was junior high school student. i got a win judo tournament in aich prifecture. then my name was written on the Asahi newspaper.
Q2 when Nick scucceded in his job and getting job, he tried to give money to his family. if you were rich, what would you do?
A2 The Nick's action was so cool. if i were rich, i would do as same as Nick. But my family would not accept the money, so i would give something that makes them happy such as travel ticket, a massage chair and house.
this story was really interesting. i couldn't guess what will be happened next. the relationship between nick and Mrs.Granger is vry nice.
7wards
hero/newspaper/TV/pen/company/rich/better
Q1 many reporter visited him to get information about frindle. have you ever been written your name on newspaper?
A1 yes, i have. when i was junior high school student. i got a win judo tournament in aich prifecture. then my name was written on the Asahi newspaper.
Q2 when Nick scucceded in his job and getting job, he tried to give money to his family. if you were rich, what would you do?
A2 The Nick's action was so cool. if i were rich, i would do as same as Nick. But my family would not accept the money, so i would give something that makes them happy such as travel ticket, a massage chair and house.
this story was really interesting. i couldn't guess what will be happened next. the relationship between nick and Mrs.Granger is vry nice.
September 19, 2013
This book was mostly about a boy named Nick, who has a creative mind for words. One of the ideas Nick came up with was the frindle, a new name for the word pen. In school, all of the students loved the new word frindle, but the teachers hated it.
April 9, 2010
They were very good because it seems like most of these books are like boys against girls. I find that very interesting.
January 24, 2013
Great, except I prefer taking books one at a time, especially when it doesn't mean taking the risk of not being able to start reading "my next book" when I go to begin.
October 22, 2008
hahahaha
a pen becomes a frindle
if its a frindle,
i lost all of my frindles
a pen becomes a frindle
if its a frindle,
i lost all of my frindles
April 10, 2015
my father used to read me these books
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews