No Talking by Andrew Clements

No Talking is the story of a contest between the fifth grade boys and girls at Laketon Elementary school.  Who can go the longest without talking?  All words that are accidentally spoken are counted against you.  Teachers and parents can only be answered with three words.  Dave Packer, the mastermind of the contest is inspired by Gandhi who he has learned about for his class project about India.  Fellow fifth grade student Lynsey’s constant talking drives Dave insane, and his blow up at Lynsey is what starts the contest.  Lynsey is the captain for the girls, and Dave is the captain for the boys.  Will the kids be able to do it?  Who will win?  What will teachers and parents say?

We read this book for the Kewaunee Public Library Youth Book Club.  My two sons, Kile (10) and Daniel (8) were honestly not that keen about the book.  They liked that it was boys versus girls and wanted to see who would win, but they felt it lacked adventure and at times was too moralizing.  Kile actually wasn’t going to go to book club at first because he didn’t like it, but decided last minute to go and tell what he thought about it.

I thought it was an interesting story and had some good thoughts about the greatness of silence.  I also thought the kids were very inventive in how to make the challenge work.

Overall, No Talking is an interesting unique story that I enjoyed as an adult, but my two sons did not enjoy.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library