A story about how words are formed and get added to the dictionary
Nick is a 5th-grade student who loves playing jokes on his classmates. One day, he tries to play a trick on his English teacher, Mrs. Granger. He asks her: Who chose the meaning of the words in the dictionary? Mrs. Granger tells Nick to write an essay about this subject. While researching, Nick discovers that ordinary people decide the meaning of words.
Nick finds a pen while walking home and decides to call it a “frindle.” Nick’s friends think this is funny and start calling pens frindles as well. Soon after, everyone in his class is using this new word. Mrs. Granger doesn’t like this. She begins punishing students who say “frindle” in class, but this doesn’t work. The word becomes more and more popular and eventually spreads around the world.
Several years later, Nick receives a package from Mrs. Granger. It’s the latest edition of a popular dictionary that has added “frindle” to it. In a note, she explains she fought against the word on purpose so people would notice it and it would become more popular. In response, Nick mails her the original pen as a gift and playfullytells her that she can call it anything she wants.
