Friday, August 5, 2011
Frindle
Frindle is an absolutely charming book about a boy, his teacher, a big idea and the power of language to bind them altogether. I often cry when I read children's books (oh to see me at the end of Knuffle Bunny Free), and my kids kind of love it kind of hate it. To them it's like seeing a rare and somewhat bizarre insect. They want to huddle up and peer as if farsighted at the strange event unfolding in their immediate universe. Anyway, they got to do just that at the end of Frindle, because I'm a sucker for a life-enhancing student-teacher moment. It's short, it's brisk, the characters play their parts pitch perfectly, it's a great read, even if you're not going into fifth grade.
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2 comments:
Agree. Love this book, cried, made my kid gape with my crying.
I wish I thought any of Clements's zillion other books approached the genius of Frindle. They're all at least tolerable and sometimes better than that. But as a writer, I wonder what it must be like to be so prolific but to have written your greatest work FIRST. I hope he has another brilliant book in him!
(Other books that have made me cry when read to my kids: Mrs Katz and Tush, Velveteen Rabbit, Charlotte's Web. I'm sure there are more -- like you, I cry at the drop of a hat -- but those are the biggies.)
It was his first book -- aha! Well, it is brilliant; he's not alone with having the one great book in him...at least now I know I don't have to read the rest.
I just bought a copy of Charlotte's Web on the street- just looking at the cover I get choked up -- I'll be like a circus side show for my kids when we read it, I just know it....
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