The first chapter of Frindle describes Nick Allen's first acts of creative rebellion. Chapter One tells how he transformed Mrs. Deaver's third-grade classroom into a tropical paradise, complete with sand, and how he disrupted Mrs. Avery's fourth-grade class by chirping like a red-winged blackbird. These experiences set up the expectation that Nick will always find a way to get around teachers and their attempts to control the classroom.
However, that all changes in Chapter Two when Nick gets to fifth grade and has Mrs. Granger for language arts. While she was known to have a fine sense of humor, Mrs. Granger is legendary at Lincoln Elementary for three things: her strictness, her high standards, and her love of language. She sends a letter to all parents letting them know they had to have a good dictionary at home. While the other teachers start the school year by just letting the kids chat, Mrs. Granger puts them to work right away. Nick tries to disrupt the first class by asking a "thought-grenade" question about where all the words in the dictionary come from, only to have it backfire when Mrs. Granger assigns him an oral report on the subject.
While researching where words come from, Nick hatches a new plan to disrupt class. He makes his report extra long and incorporates reading a tough article from the dictionary out loud, thus whiling away most of the class period. Mrs. Granger eventually shuts him down, but Nick tries to disrupt things again by asking who decides which words mean what. Mrs. Granger tells Nick that he does—that people do.
This sparks another rebellion. As Nick is walking with his friend Janet Fisk, she finds a pen. Spontaneously, Nick calls it a "frindle." He gets his friend to help him, and they all visit the local store and ask for pens by asking for frindles. Once they establish the word there, Nick stages an event to use it in Mrs. Granger's class, asking a friend for a frindle. The kids say "frindle" instead of "cheese" when they are getting their school pictures taken. Mrs. Granger imposes a rule forbidding the use of "frindle," and requiring anyone who uses the word to stay after school. This backfires, and more and more kids choose to use the word and stay after school. Mrs. Granger calls Nick in to discuss this, and shows him a curious letter, which she does not give to him, but instead has him sign across the flap to ensure that it stays sealed.
