A fifth grader named Nick Allen tries to stall his class when he asks his teacher, Mrs. Granger, where words come from. Instead of answering his question, she assigns him an oral report to answer his own question. During his research, he leans that we get word from the dictionary. One day after school, Nick and Jane are walking home together when Janet drops her pen on the sidewalk. When Nick picks it up for her, he hands it to her and calls it a frindle. He loves it! He has all of his friends call a pen a frindle, then his entire class, then the community, and then all across the world! Of course, Mrs. Granger is very angry that the student is saying the world frindle. She tells hers class that if she catches anyone saying it, there's a punishment.
