In Andrew Clements' book Frindle, Nick is a precocious young man who is well known for his classroom antics. He knows how to get teachers off-topic to waste class time; he can make bird noises; and, one time he turned his classroom into an island paradise. He has a great imagination, and while not a bad kid, he is an "itch:" he just drives teachers crazy.
In fifth grade, everyone has the same language arts teacher, and her name is Mrs. Granger. As an English teacher myself, she is typical in her love of the language and her knowledge that language is a powerful tool. However, she is not quite prepared for Nick. When she says that "we" decide what words are used and end up in dictionaries, Nick takes her at her word and creates the word "frindle," meaning pen. The entire incident involves Nick's attempt to waste class time by asking a question about a dictionary—for his efforts, he ends up delivering a report on the history of dictionaries. And so, it is easy for the reading audience to understand that Mrs. Granger does not take words lightly.
Her battle cry, similar to mine at school and at home, had to do with words and dictionaries. She was known by countless students for saying:
Look it up! That's why we have the dictionary.
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