Frindle Part 7 Study Guide - Garden Heights Academy

What Happens in Part 7

Time leaps forward. The wild excitement fades, but — unlike an ordinary fad — frindle does not disappear. It endures. Years pass, and the word simply keeps living: kids use it, then their younger brothers and sisters use it, and slowly it becomes an ordinary part of everyday speech. Nick grows up. He is no longer the fifth-grader who dreamed up a word; he becomes a thoughtful young man, and heads off to college. And then comes the crowning proof that his idea truly worked: the makers of the dictionary add ‘frindle’ as a real, official word, with its spelling and its meaning printed for all to see. The little sound Nick invented on a walk home has outlasted the craze, the cameras, and even his own childhood. By simply lasting, frindle has won the word war for good — and quietly proven everything Mrs. Granger once taught about how words are made.

What We Will Learn

Focus	What It Means
Falling Action	The calmer events after the climax, easing toward the end
Flash-Forward	When a story jumps ahead in time
Theme	The big idea — a real word wins by lasting, and the people make it real

Chapter Summary

Chapter	Key Events
Ch. 13 — The Years Go By	The craze fades, but frindle endures. Years pass, Nick grows up and goes to college, and the word is finally added to the dictionary as an official, real word.

💭 Before You Read · Warm-Up (not scored)

There are no wrong answers here — just think, guess, and talk:

What is the difference between a fad that fades and a change that lasts?
Who do you think really decides whether a new word becomes ‘official’?
Predict: now that frindle is in the dictionary, how might Nick feel looking back on it all?

Copyright Notice

This is an independent study guide created by Garden Heights Academy to support reading comprehension and literary analysis. It contains original analysis questions and does not reproduce any text from the novel. Frindle is a work by Andrew Clements. This guide is not affiliated with, authorized by, or endorsed by the author or any associated rights holder.

Part 1

Vocabulary

Study 10 key words from Chapter 13, then answer each question.

🧠Knowledge Bank · How a Word Earns Its Place in the Dictionary

Lexicography · Making a DictionaryA word does not enter the dictionary because one person likes it; it must earn its spot. The people who make dictionaries are called lexicographers, and they work a little like scientists. For years they collect citations— real examples of a word being used in books, newspapers, and everyday speech — and watch to see whether the word is spreading and lasting. Only when a word in many places, over a stretch of time, do editors judge it real enough to include. A dictionary, in other words, does not invent words or command them; itrecords the ones people have already made their own. This is a beautiful idea to hold as Nick’s story leaps forward in time. If frindle can survive long enough, used by enough people, then the same patient editors who guard the language will have no choice but to grant it an entry.

permanentadj.Ch.13

Lasting for a very long time

“Frindle became permanent.”

officialadj.Ch.13

Approved and recognized

“It was now an official word.”

entryn.Ch.13

A single item listed in a dictionary

“Frindle got its own entry.”

editionn.Ch.13

One printing of a book

“A new edition added the word.”

endurev.Ch.13

To last a long time

“The word endured for years.”

graduallyadv.Ch.13

Slowly, little by little

“It gradually became normal.”

maturev.Ch.13

To grow up

“Nick matured into a young man.”

recognizev.Ch.13

To accept as real or valid

“The dictionary recognized it.”

generationn.Ch.13

All the people born about the same time

“A new generation used it too.”

legacyn.Ch.13

Something lasting a person leaves behind

“Frindle was Nick’s legacy.”

1Something ‘permanent’ is —Ch.13

2Something ‘official’ is —Ch.13

3Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch. 13

Word choices:entryeditionlegacyrecognize- some words will not be used

A single item listed in a dictionary is an .

One printing of a book is an .

4To ‘endure’ is to —Ch.13

5‘Gradually’ means slowly, little by little.Ch.13

6To ‘mature’ is to —Ch.13

7Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch. 13

Word choices:generationendurepermanentofficial- some words will not be used

All the people born about the same time are a .

To last for a very long time is to .

8A ‘legacy’ is —Ch.13

9To ‘recognize’ a word is to —Ch.13

10An ‘entry’ in a dictionary is the front door you walk through.Ch.13

Part 2

Comprehension

How well do you understand Chapter 13?

🧠Knowledge Bank · Reading Across a Jump in Time

Reading Skill · Time JumpsNot every story moves minute by minute. Sometimes an author leaps ahead months or years in a single sentence, a move that can jolt a careless reader. Skilled readers stay alert for these time jumps and immediately ask two questions: how much time has passed, and what must have happened in the gap? Authors trust you to fill that empty space using clues on the page — a character who is older, a habit that has become ordinary, a word that is now everywhere. Filling the gap is a kind of inference, and it keeps the story whole across the leap. In this part the tale springs forward, and suddenly we glimpse the future of Nick’s small invention. Read a time jump slowly rather than quickly, gathering the signals the author leaves behind, because the meaning of a leap lives in the space you learn to bridge.

1What happens to the wild excitement over frindle?Ch.13

2Unlike an ordinary fad, what does frindle do?Ch.13

3What happens to Nick as the years pass?Ch.13

4What is the crowning proof that Nick’s idea worked?Ch.13

5Write the numbers 1–5 in the boxes to show the order of events in Part 7. Number 1 = what happens first.Ch. 13

But frindle keeps being used, year after year.
The wild excitement finally fades.
Nick grows up and heads to college.
Frindle is added to the dictionary.
Younger kids keep using the word too.

6How does frindle finally ‘win’ the word war?Ch.13

7Who really made frindle a real word, in the end?Ch.13

8What lesson of Mrs. Granger’s does frindle’s journey prove?Ch.13

9Frindle fades away like a normal, passing fad.Ch.13

10By the end of Part 7, frindle is a real word printed in the dictionary.Ch.13

Part 3

Literary Elements

Understanding HOW and WHY Andrew Clements tells the story in Chapter 13.

🧠Knowledge Bank · Looking Ahead: The Flash-Forward

Literary Craft · Flash-ForwardAfter a story’s climax comes the falling action, the calmer stretch where tension eases and loose threads begin to settle. Sometimes an author reaches even further, using a flash-forward — a jump ahead to show us the future long after the main events have ended. A flash-forward is the mirror image of a flashback; instead of looking back, it looks ahead, revealing how things eventually turned out. This tool is powerful because it lets an author prove a point that only time can prove. If we see, years later, that a word has survived and thrived, we understand its importance in a way no single scene could show. Watch how this part uses the future to give weight to the past. Underneath it all runs the story’s theme, its deepest message, growing clearer now that we can glimpse how everything eventually unfolds.

📚 Literary Devices in This Part · definitions & examples

Falling action is what happens after the climax, easing the story toward its end (the craze settling as years pass). A flash-forward is when a story jumps ahead in time (skipping years to Nick grown up). Theme is the deep message the book leaves us (a real word wins by lasting; the people make language).

1The calmer stretch after the climax, as the craze settles, is the —Ch.13

2A flash-forward jumps the story ahead in time.Ch.13

3Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch. 13

Word choices:flash-forwardthemerhymeindex- some words will not be used

Skipping ahead many years in a few pages is a .

The big idea that lasting words are real words is the story’s .

4The book’s big idea — that people make words real — is its —Ch.13

5Falling action comes before the climax, not after it.Ch.13

6Fill in the blank with the correct word.Ch. 13

Word choices:flash-forwardrhymesetting- some words will not be used

Jumping ahead to Nick in college is an example of a .

7Why does Clements use a flash-forward here?Ch.13

8The settling of the craze as years pass mainly forms the story’s —Ch.13

9Fill in the blank with the correct word.Ch. 13

Word choices:themerhymeplot- some words will not be used

The lasting message that people, not experts, make language is the book’s .

10The theme of Part 7 is best stated as —Ch.13

Part 4

Think Deeper

Four deeper challenges — no single-word recall. Read, weigh the evidence, and reason it through.

🧠Knowledge Bank · What Makes Change Last?

Big Ideas · Fads vs. ChangeSome new things blaze up brightly and vanish within a season; others take quiet root and stay for good. The first kind we call a fad — a craze that spreads fast and fades faster. The second kind is lasting change, and telling them apart is one of the hardest and most useful judgments a person can make. What separates the two? A fad usually offers only novelty, the thrill of being new, while lasting change fills a real and continuing need. A word survives not because it was once exciting but because people keep finding it genuinely useful. As Nick’s story leaps into the future, ask which kind of change frindle has become. Anyone can start something popular for a week. The rarer and greater achievement is to start something that outlives its own excitement and quietly becomes permanent.

1Claim: “Frindle proves it is a real word, not just a passing fad.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence

2A sign frindle is here to stay, or a sign the excitement has faded? Tap each item to send it left or right.Sort into two

◄ Here to stayThe excitement has faded ►

3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect

The wild excitement dies down→

Younger children pick up the word→

The word keeps being used→

A word that endures and is used→

4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument

Frindle becomes a real word because , which shows that .

Part 5

Standardized Test

How a Word Gets into the Dictionary — SAT & TOEFL-style practice

🎯 You already have the skills from the sections above — this is just a fun way to meet real SAT & TOEFL-style questions. Read the passage (the highlighted words are tested below), then answer the questions below. Tap an answer to select it, then tap it again to confirm — you can change your choice until you confirm.

Many people imagine that a group of experts sits in a room and decides which words are ‘allowed.’ The truth is the opposite. Dictionary-makers do not invent words or grant them permission; they watch how real people speak and write. When a new word appears — in books, newspapers, and everyday talk — the editors track it. If the word keeps being used, by many people, over several years, it has proven it will endure.

Only then do the editors add it as a new entry, with its spelling and meaning. Modern editors rely on huge computer databases that scan millions of books, articles, and websites, quietly measuring how often each new word appears. Only a word that shows up again and again, year after year, earns its place, which is why some popular slang never makes it in at all. In other words, a dictionary does not create language; it records it. A word becomes ‘official’ only after the public has already made it real. That is why languages keep growing: as long as people invent and share new words, dictionaries will keep adding them.

Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.

1What do dictionary-makers actually do?TOEFL · Factual Information

2To “invent” a word is to —SAT · Words in Context

3What must a word do before editors add it?TOEFL · Factual Information

4To “endure” is to —SAT · Words in Context

5What is a dictionary “entry”?TOEFL · Factual Information

6According to the passage, a dictionary does what?TOEFL · Factual Information

7When does a word become ‘official’?TOEFL · Factual Information

8Why do languages keep growing?TOEFL · Factual Information

9What is the passage mainly about?TOEFL · Rhetorical Purpose

10This passage connects to Part 7 because frindle —TOEFL · Rhetorical Purpose

Part 6 · Optional

Creative Writing

A bonus challenge to practice your English. Take your time and have fun with it.

About This Section

This writing task is optional and is not part of your auto-graded score. The feedback below checks only the basics — length, spelling, and grammar — not whether your ideas are right or wrong. It is meant for classroom discussion and creative practice, so feel free to use your imagination!

Writing Task — Part 7 “The Dictionary Entry”

Frindle finally earns its own dictionary entry. Write that entry the way a real dictionary would! Give the word, what kind of word it is (a noun), and a clear meaning. Then add one example sentence using the word. Have fun making it look official. Write at least 40 words.

You can start with: “frindle (noun): a ______. Example: ______.”

0 / 40 words minimum

🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)

No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby how a real word gets added to the dictionary, and why time proved Nick was right. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.

Part 7 Complete!

You finished Chapter 13 of Frindle.

Here are your auto-graded results:

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points out of 100

Your Writing

Your writing was checked automatically for length, spelling, and grammar. Scroll back to Part 6 anytime to read your feedback and improve your work.

Move on to Part 8 →

Independent study guide by Garden Heights Academy. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the author or any rights holders. Contains original analysis only; no text from the novel is reproduced.