Thought for the Day:
“Character is destiny. Change, growing from within and forced from without, is the mainspring of character development.”
~ Rita Mae Brown ~
Gifts for My Writer Friends:
When I read wish lists from editors and agents looking for middle-grade books, the word “adventure” is almost always there. HERE is a good article from Writer’s Digest by Cassidy Randall with 4 Tips for Good Adventure Writing.
If you could avoid the kind of mistakes that stop agents and editors in their tracks when reading your work, that would be a good thing. HERE Jenn Windrow has a great post on Writers in the Storm with Top 20 Mistakes Developmental Editors See in Manuscripts.
Janice Hardy’s Narrative Nuggets are always worth your time. HERE she has a great little post on names.
Like most writers, I have a love affair with words. I love to know how we acquire words in the English language, where they come from, and how they may have developed over time. I also love wordplay. I don’t know where I found this list of words with made-up definitions, but I thought they were a lot of fun, so I’m sharing them here with you. I hope you enjoy them.
Abundance – A dance in a bakery
Apex – A gorilla’s old girlfriend
Blood Brother – A vampire’s relative
Buttress – a female goat
Catastrophe – First prize in a cat show
Denial – A river in Eygpt
Fjord – A Norwegian car
Grammar – a female grandparent
Inkling – a small pen
Jubilant – a celebrating ant
Optical – itchy eyes
Polygon – a dead parrot
Syntax – a collection in church
Andrew Clements is a prolific author. His most famous book is FRINDLE. It has received a ridiculous number of well-deserved awards and is still in print after nearly 30 years. That says something in middle-grade fiction. I have never read FRINDLE. No reason. I just never got around to it, but when I saw THE FRINDLE FILES on the review list for the Los Angeles Book Review, I thought I should give it a try. I’m glad I did. It was fun. And now I think I should get around to reading the original. Here is the review I wrote for LABR.
Josh Willets is a self-described computer nerd. He loves his coding club and loves that his school makes sure every student has a laptop to use in class, but he hates that his ELA teacher, Mr. N., won’t let the kids use computers in his classroom and makes the kids write out their homework in blue or black ink on lined paper and neatness counts. Josh borrows a pen from his mom one day that has the word “frindle” written on it. When Josh does a search for that word, he discovers something pretty incredible about Mr. N. Josh tells his best friend, Vanessa, what he has found, and they come up with a plan that might free the students from Mr. N’s old-fashioned ways.
Author Andrew Clements has finally written a sequel to his very popular novel, Frindle. This fun story is completely believable and puts readers squarely in the world of fifth-graders and the issues they have to deal with. The dialogue is spot-on for the age, the story is compelling with a little mystery to drive it, and the writing is terrific. Middle-graders will be fully engaged all the way through. This is not to be missed.
Please don’t forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at Greg Pattridge’s blog HERE.
Rosi Hollinbeck 
How funny! I’m in the middle of this story right now. I understand that Andrew Clements passed away in 2019 and this book was published posthumously in 2024. I remember reading the original Frindle with my 4th graders.
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He did?? I was not aware of that… 😦 That’s terribly sad.
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https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/81881-obituary-andrew-clements.html
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Thanks for posting this link, Pete.
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I hadn’t known either. Pete posted the link in a later comment.
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Thanks for the update on Clements. I didn’t know. I hope you enjoyed the book. Thanks for the comment.
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I read Frindle when it came out with each of my children and then again as a teacher. I didn’t know there was another Frindle book. Sounds like I’ll have to find it.
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I hope you enjoy it. It’s a lot of fun. Thanks for the comment.
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Ohh, I’ve never read the Frindle Files, but I’ve read some of Andrew Clements’ books! I loved them! They’re super fun! Thanks for sharing this one! I’ll have to check it out sometime!
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I hope you enjoy it. I did. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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I never read Frindle. But you’re making me want to with your review of the sequel. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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I never read Frindle. But you’re making me want to with your review of the sequel. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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I haven’t read the original. This one was fun. I’m hoping to get to the original one day soon. Thanks for the comment.
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This was one of my sister’s favorites as a kid. I really need to check it out! Thanks for sharing your review.
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You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for the comment.
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Frindle is one of my favorites! I’ve used it in class with students as well. I didn’t know there was a sequel out, and this sounds like such a fun follow up. Clements is a genius at stories set in school–and humor. Thanks for featuring it!
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You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for the comment.
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I enjoyed reading Frindle several times. So glad a sequel is out! Loved your fun word list. Thanks for the links. They might inspire me to get back in the trenches with sharing my work.
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I hope the links give you the kickstart you are looking for. We all need them. Thanks for the comment.
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Thanks for the review. I will read Frindle.
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I need to as well. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Thanks for the rec! Looking forward to comparing the two books.
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It will make for some fun reading. Thanks for the comment.
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