www.andrewclements.com This is the official website for the author of this book.

www.simonsays.com This is the official website for the publisher of this book.

No Talking

Cover illustration by Brian Selznick

Inside illustrations by Mark Elliott

Published, 2007, Simon and Schuster.

ISBN 9781416909835

Description from www.amazon.com

The fifth-grade girls and the fifth-grade boys at Laketon Elementary don't get along very well. But the real problem is that these kids are loud and disorderly. That's why the principal uses her red plastic bullhorn. A lot.

Then one day Dave Packer, a certified loudmouth, bumps into an idea - a big one that makes him try to keep quiet for a whole day. But what does Dave hear during lunch? A girl, Lynsey Burgess, jabbering away. So Dave breaks his silence and lobs an insult. Those words lead to other words about who's the biggest loudmouth, and those words spark a contest: Which team can say the fewest words during two whole days? And it's the boys against the girls.

Reviews from www.amazon.com

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 3–6—Dave Packer's fifth-grade classmates are so boisterous and difficult to quiet down that the teachers have dubbed them "The Unshushables." Dave has just read about Mahatma Gandhi and learned that the man practiced silence one day a week to bring order to his mind. Though Dave likes to talk nonstop, he's determined to give the idea a try. An encounter with Lynsey, another chatterbox, sparks the boys and girls into challenging each other to a no-talking contest for 48 hours. They can answer direct questions from adults with three-word sentences but must otherwise remain silent. The teachers are bewildered at the extreme change in the kids until several of them figure out what's going on. Principal Hiatt demands that the quiet students return to their normal behavior. When the children continue with their silent ways, Dave finds himself at the center of the controversy. This is an interesting and thought-provoking book, similar to Clements's Frindle (S & S, 1996). The plot quickly draws readers in and keeps them turning pages. The author includes the viewpoints of both the students and the teachers, and the black-and-white pencil drawings add immediacy to the story. This lively offering would make a great book-group selection or classroom discussion starter.—Elaine Lesh Morgan, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR 

 "Andrew Clements set the standard for the school story in 1996 with his first novel, Frindle, which went on to sell more than two million copies...No Talking is Clements's best school story since."- The New York Times Book Review

"Readers may be compelled to use their voice to praise Clements's deft handling of an interesting premise."- Publishers Weekly

"A vintage tale from the master of the theme-driven, feel-good school story."- Kirkus Reviews, starred review