Andrew Clements Books In Order

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Andrew Clements was born in Camden, New Jersey in 1949. He lived in Oaklyn and Chery Hill until he was in sixth grade when together with his family, they relocated to Springfield, Illinois. He began his writing as a senior high school student in Springfield High School. His journey as an author had not been a one day event. At a tender age, he had become accustomed to reading many books. This was part of his activity during summer times together with his family where they used to spend time in a cabin in a lake in Maine. During these days, he spent his nights reading after busy fishing during the day. These quiet moments helped him to start thinking like a writer and consequently he began to read more and more. A defining moment in Andrew Clements’ journey as a writer, came when he was handed back a poem he had written by his English teacher. To what he did not expect, he had scored an A which he admits was a rare event in his teacher’s class. Additionally, the teacher went further to lavish praise on his piece of writing and even suggesting that it should be published. This was a fuel of inspiration which carried him through to Northwestern University making him to trust in his own writing ability. Occasionally at Northwestern University, he would get encouragement from his professors on his writing. He began to write on his own aside from class assignment. He took a literature major where he faired high in essays and poetry. Clements took interest in writing songs and poems, and learned how to play a guitar while in Northwestern University. However, he wrote when he felt like and did not write without an inner go-ahead spirit. He viewed writing as a hard work, which he admits even now.

Andrew Clements taught creative writing in a series of summer high school workshops. This was an avenue for him to practice as a teacher and describes it as a bitter-sweet experience with the hard work and the fun involved too. Clements graduated from Northwestern University and took one extra year for preparation as a teacher. He earned a Masters of Art in teaching at National Louis University. For seven years he taught English in public schools north of Chicago where he taught for two years in fourth grade, three years in eighth grade and another two years in high school. This was invaluable time for him to establish yearlong relationships with student and kids and a joyous moment interacting with funny bright kids. He also had the opportunity to read more and more and develop on his ideas and grow as an all-rounded writer.

In his first year as a teacher, Andrew Clements got married to his wife who had a career in professional theater. They acquired their first home and then their second, in which they had their son. In his teaching, Clements was fired and rehired several times in a rollercoaster of events. This was because of decline in children enrollment in the school, which therefore led to their firing as a “Reduction in force’’ policy. With the recurrent hire and fire, he moved together with his wife and two and a half year old son to New York where he looked for a dependable job. He wanted a stable career as a singer-song writer. It did not work out as he had wanted, but this was an invaluable opportunity for him to sit down, think and come up with great ideas as a writer. He acknowledges this as a vital discipline for any writer.

He got a publishing job in a small publishing company which specialized in how-to books where the books had photos with informative captions below the photos. His name appeared in print for the first time in a book A Country Christmas Treasury where his name appeared in the acknowledgements section as among the craftspeople of the book.

After working for about one year in the publishing company, he was invited by a friend he had met in his college days to a new company’s Children’s book launch. While working in this new company, known as Alphabet Press then later Picture Book Studio, he began writing picture book texts. He also worked as an editorial director where he interacted with talented authors, illustrators and author-illustrators. Little by little, Clements began to write his own picture books which would be a foundation for his illustrious writing career.

In 1990, he conceived an idea of what was to become his first novel. He began to write a story about a boy who makes up a new word. This story was turned into his first book Frindle, which was published in 1996. Frindle was highly successful and popular. This established Andrew Clements as a full-time writer henceforth. Clements is now a full-time writer and stays in Maine, where he used to spend his early summer days, together with his wife.

Andrew Clements’ first book, Frindle is about a boy who decides to make up a word of his own for pen. The new word is frindle, and this goes to prove the ingenuity of Nick Allen who is always coming up with new cool ideas. This word is new to his dictionary obsessed teacher and sooner that would be expected, the whole class starts to use the new word. The new word does not only spread in class but to the town like wildfire. Suddenly, Nick Allen finds himself in the media frenzy over frindle, leaving the question of whether he comes out as a hero or troublemaker.

Clements’ second book The Landry News, published in 1998 is about a fifth grade girl Cara Landry, who is having quite a rough time in school after her parents’ divorce but the worse is still to come in school, with the new teacher Mr. Larson. Mr. Larson is unpopular for handing out work sheets each morning then sitting back to read the paper. Landry whose dream is to become a paper journalist takes this time in the absence of teaching, to editorialize her own newspaper Landry News. Her lone anonymity days are now over.

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