She doesn't understand what he wants until he points to a pen. The next afternoon, he stops at a shop and asks the saleslady for a frindle. He apologizes, and as he hands Janet the pen, he calls it a frindle. He remembers that when he was a toddler, his parents knew he wanted to listen to music when he said 'gwagala.' Nick is so absorbed that he bumps into Janet and sends her pen flying. Granger said about words and why they mean what they do. Janet finds a gold pen in the street, but Nick is lost in thought about what Mrs.

That afternoon, Nick and Janet walk home together. Granger explains that Nick and all other English speakers decide what words mean, and says that if everyone started to use a different word for something, it'd eventually end up in the dictionary. Nick doesn't stop there, however he asks Mrs. Finally, with ten minutes left in the period, she makes him stop. Granger loves it for the first eighteen minutes, but then she seems to understand that Nick is trying to drag his presentation out as long as possible. Granger's class the next day, Nick gives his presentation. Nick looks up 'dictionary' in both the adult and children's encyclopedias and then comes up with one of his big ideas. Granger's vocabulary homework and then turns to his report. Granger asks Nick to research it himself and present his findings to the class the next day. Granger where the words in the dictionaries come from. Right before the period ends, Nick decides to deploy the 'teacher-stopper,' a question designed to keep teachers from assigning homework. Granger starts things off with a vocabulary test. Granger explaining that Nick needs to have access to a good dictionary for homework. A few weeks before school begins, Nick's parents receive a letter from Mrs. Granger has a reputation for being strict and assigning lots of homework, especially vocabulary homework. They no longer get recess, they get real letter grades, and they all get Mrs. Avery-and she never caught them.Įntering fifth grade represents a turning point for Lincoln Elementary students.

He and one of his classmates, Janet Fisk, made high-pitched bird noises all year long to annoy Mrs. Then, in fourth grade, Nick learned that blackbirds make high-pitched noises to confuse birds of prey, and noticed that his teacher, Mrs. In third grade, he convinced Miss Deaver to let the class turn the classroom into a tropical island. Nick Allen isn't a bad kid, but he does have lots of ideas and enjoys tormenting his teachers with them.

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