Frindle by Andrew Clements

Now Nick Allen is starting fifth grade. At Lincoln Elementary, fifth grade is much more difficult than the other grades are. The teachers know that the kids have to get ready for middle school, so they make everyone work harder. The hardest teacher of all is Mrs. Granger.

Mrs. Granger has worked a Lincoln elementary forever, and she has never missed a day of school. She wears the same, strict-looking skirt-and-jacket suits every day. She is very small, shorter even than some fifth graders, but she seems huge to the kids. Her eyes are full of a power that can make anyone feel small.

Kids say Mrs. Granger has X-ray vision. She is famous for catching and punishing kids chewing gum—even the ones who are not in fifth grade yet. More importantly, her language arts classes are grueling. She makes kids take all kinds of spelling tests and reading tests and vocabulary tests, and she is an extremely hard grader.

Mrs. Granger loves the dictionary. Every week, she makes her class learn thirty-five vocabulary words. She writes a Word of the Day on the board every day, and if a kid forgets to learn the definition,...