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No Talking by Andrew Clements

Summary

The fifth grade students at Laketon Elementary School are so loud that they are nicknamed “The Unshushables.” But everything changes when the boys and girls challenge each other to a contest: for the next two days, each side has to be as quiet as possible. “Whichever side talks less, wins.”

Booktalk

Dave is a fifth grade boy who loves to talk and talk and talk. About everything. And Dave has “zero tolerance for girls.” Lynsey is a fifth grade girl who also talks a lot. Once she gets going, it seems like she can talk "for a million minutes in a row without stopping.” And Lynsey has “less than zero tolerance for boys.” So when Dave tells Lynsey that “if you had to shut up for five minutes, I bet the top of your head would explode,” it’s a very dangerous thing to say. After a lively exchange of insults and threats, Dave dares Lynsey to accept a challenge: all fifth graders will have to stop talking for two full days, at school and at home. “Not in class, not in the halls, not in the playground, nowhere…And it’s a contest – boys against girls. Whichever side talks less wins.” And that’s why at 12:00 on Tuesday the school lunchroom packed with fifth graders is deadly silent, for the first time ever. That’s why the afternoon music class is filled with the sounds of humming, instead of singing. And it’s why on the playground at recess you can hear whistles, burps, quacks, barks, and screams, but no actual words. When the school principal discovers what’s going on, though, she has a pretty good idea that Dave and Lynsey are the ringleaders. She decides to put a stop to all of the nonsense. Which means that the “no talking” contest is no longer just boys vs. girls; it’s also kids vs. grownups.

Discussion questions

Warning! Some of the questions contain key elements of the plot. Do not read if you don't want to know what happens!

  1. Would it be hard for you to not talk for two days? What would be the most difficult part?
  2. Dave and Lynsey start out as enemies, but end up kind of liking each other. What are some of the reasons for these changes?
  3. How do different teachers react once they learn about the contest? How would you have reacted if you were a teacher?
  4. At one point Dave wishes that the no talking contest “didn’t have to be a war.” What makes him feel this way?
  5. Which would be harder for you: not talking at home or not talking at school?
  6. What are some of the tricky ways kids manage to communicate without breaking the “no talking” rule. Can you think of some other ways that would work?
  7. If you held a “no talking” contest with your friends or family, who do you think would win? Why?
  8. Mr. Burton wants to use the “no talking” contest for his research project. What are some of the interesting scientific observations he makes?
  9. In this fifth grade class, “the boys avoid the girls, and the girls avoid the boys.” Can you find any examples that show how the contest changed this?
  10. The last chapter is called “Winners.” Who were the real winners of the contest? Were there any losers?

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