Book Review: No Talking

No Talking
by Andrew Clements
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
ISBN 9781416909835
$15.99
Grades 3-6
In stores

*Best New Books*

Working in a public school, I am around children every day. Here are two facts that I feel I can state from experience:

1. Kids like to talk

2. There is nothing that gets the youngsters going like boys vs. girls competition

In No Talking, Andrew Clements manages to merge both of these eternal truisms.

At Laketon Elementary, the 5th grade class has a reputation for embracing the spoken word – so much so that they earned the nickname “The Unshushables” from teachers. On top of all this noisiness, the boys can’t stand the girls and the girls aren’t all that keen on the boys.

One day Dave Packer attempts something that surely has never been done by anyone in his fifth grade class – to make it through the school day without saying a word. He fails, but his experiment leads to a challenge between the boys and the girls: Two days of school. Whichever group talks the least wins.

This book has all kinds of classroom implications, and the rivalry between boys and girls will immediately draw kids in. No Talking is an entertaining story and a quality fiction selection

Filed under: *Best New Books*, Reviews