What is one positive thing and one negative thing in Andrew Clements's Frindle?

One positive thing found in Andrew Clements's book Frindle is the idea that thinking creatively is a powerful tool, so powerful it can change the world. On the other hand, we also see in the book that those who think creatively think contrary to the way the rest of society thinks, which means creative thinkers often have to oppose authority in order to act upon their creative ideas. Sometimes opposing authority can be a good thing and lead to positive changes; sometimes opposing authority can be a bad thing. As we see in Frindle, while Nick's opposition to authority was generally harmless, it also had the potential to be problematic.

As we see at the start of the book, Nick is a very creative thinker. He is so creative that he once turned his third-grade classroom into a tropical island paradise during the New Hampshire winter and even invents his own word. His invented word becomes so popular that, once the press attention dies down, "all the kids and even some teachers used" the word frindle instead of pen (72). By the time Nick reaches the age of 21, frindle has been added to the dictionary, showing us creative ideas lead to major changes; therefore thinking creatively can be a very good thing.

Before this change occurred, however, Nick's rebellion caused some trouble. First, Nick inspiring kids at school to call a pen a frindle makes teachers mad, which is not a response Nick really anticipated. Mrs. Granger is so mad that she makes kids stay after school for using the word and to write a sentence one hundred times, saying, "I am writing this punishment with a pen" (39). There are days when as many as 200 kids must stay after school. While many people, including Nick and his parents, believe the school is overreacting to kids using an innocent made-up word, Mrs. Chatham, the school principle, expresses a valuable point that, in refusing to stop using the word, Nick and the other children are showing a "lack of respect for authority" (49).

While disrespecting and even rebelling against authority is not always a bad thing, it can certainly be considered a bad thing when it is done for unimportant or wrong reasons. The American Revolution and the Civil Rights Movement are two examples in which people rebelled against authority to accomplish very significant goals. One might argue that getting a word like frindle added to the dictionary does not constitute an important reason to rebel against authority; therefore, one might conclude Nick's rebellion against authority could be considered a bad thing.

Regardless of whether Nick was right or wrong to rebel against authority, Frindle shows us people have the ability to accomplish permanent changes if they think creatively.