Frindle by Andrew Clements

I absolutely loved this book as a kid, and have fond memories of reading it when I was younger. This was another audiobook that we listened to on our drive in California, after we finished all the Ramona books I had brought with us. For anyone who hasn't read it, it's about a boy named Nick who makes up a new word for "pen" by calling it "frindle," and the word takes off. I thought this one might be a little too complex for Dane, but since we ran out of other audiobooks I figured we might as well. And oh my goodness. It was such a hit. Dane absorbed every word and was fascinated by it. I thought he wouldn't understand it, but he did. There is a small scene at the beginning of the book when Nick pretends he is a blackbird warning other blackbirds of a dangerous hawk by "peep"ing super loud in his classroom, and Dane spent the rest of the weekend going "peep!" And Dane has now, as of today, made up his own word for pen instead of frindle: "soro." We'll see if it makes it to the dictionary.

I loved listening to this too, by the way. I wouldn't have chosen this, perhaps, but the CD audiobook collection at the library for kids was slim pickin's so I grabbed it and I'm glad I did. The ending was so sweet and happy and I just loved the whole thing.