Frindle by Andrew Clements

The Locale: Olivia & Susan’s Home

The Book: Frindle is about a boy named Nick who gets a into a squeeze with vocabulary teacher. His vocab teacher happens to LOVE the dictionary. Nick happens to LOVE being a goofball and a smart aleck in class. It’s is a terrific read. A boy too creative for the confines of elementary school meets his match in an extremely exacting teacher. They square off in an epic battle over…an invented word?

The Fun: Girls brought an item from home, for which they invented a new name, described for the group, and played a guessing game. They also took turns answering discussion questions from a handmade fortune-teller, and later, they broke up into groups to play a game in which they had to decide whether or not 10 words were made-up or real, looking them up in a dictionary after they made their guesses. We had lots of fun, and we really loved it when Emma said, as she walked out the door, “I’m going to make a matching ORF and SQUIRF with my CLICK-CLACKS,” matching hat and scarf with knitting needles for those who unable to attend.

The Food: Olivia and Susan served croissant sandwiches, chocolate cake, trail mix, and fruit with Nutella. Yum, Yum.

The Vote: Emma and Diana presented three books, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, Canterwood Crest: Take the Reins by Jessica Burkhart, and The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum. The girls voted, and the winner was The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. We will be meeting on October 10th Emma and Diana’s home to discuss that book.

Up Next: Our next meeting will be at Perri and TJ’s house on September 12th, when we’ll discuss Double Fudge by Judy Blume.

WANTED: Girls Who Love to Read!

How It Started: At the end of the 08-09 school year, Olivia and Susan emailed and distributed flyers for the book club,

gather gals and moms who were interested. 

The Goal: Girls should be good readers--hopefully avid--with a parent who also loves to read. Moms would read the novel along with their daughter as well help plan and participate in fun activities at the book discussions.

How it Works: We had our first orientation meeting on June 27th, 2:00-4:00, at Olivia’s House. Meetings would occur every 4-8 weeks, depending upon the size of the novel. We would plan a couple of readings ahead, with everyone hosting once a year or so. As a the time to host approached, girls would research and recommend to the group three novels, emailing ahead of time titles and descriptions. Votes would be cast during meetings, and the book with the most votes wins. When hosting, munchies would be provided along with topics for discussion, and possibly a fun activity that would support the theme of the book. Meetings could be either a Saturday or Sunday afternoon (TBD). 


Getting Going: During this orientation meeting and to get us moving forward, we planned our first two books. First, Olivia presented three books to the group--Frindle by Andrew Clements, The Little Princess by Francis Hogsdon Burnett, and Lady Margaret’s Ghost by Elizabeth McDavid Jones. Frindle won for first book. Next, Perri presented Double Fudge by Judy Blume, The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester, and Treasure Fever by Andy Griffiths. Double Fudge won for our second meeting.