No Talking

This is an awesome book for middle school students. It's a typical "boys are better" "nuh-uh, girls are better" argument, without the sexism.

Fifth grader, Dave, reads a book about Ghandi for his report on India. He becomes interested in the idea of 'not talking', something Ghandi did for his own spiritual development. In a verbal fight with a girl classmate, Dave challenges her to keep quiet. Suddently, a contest develops and spreads to

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all the fifth graders, where the contestants are the boys against the girls. Who will win this battle among the noisiest group of fifth graders ever to go through this primary school? What lessons will they learn?

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This was such a cool book! How The Unshushables are almost complete silent for two whole days! I bet if you add up all the times the fifth graders were quiet in a year,they would only fill up a few days!

Andrew Clements is another author that I love to share with kids. I read this book because I heard of other teachers who were using it in their classrooms as the first chapter book read aloud of the year; I wanted to know what all the hype was about. I am so glad that I picked it up, carried it

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around in my bag, and finally got around to reading it.

I must say, that I can so relate, text-to-self connection, with this book/story. This book should be that way for kids as well. Clements puts the reader in a typical school setting. Fifth grade is about the time that boys and girls alike start to realize that the other sex does not have cooties anymore. This group is not quite there yet, but somehow they manage to get past that and become friends/allies.

I laughed out loud reading this because the events are so real and Clements makes them so funny. The teachers are torn as to which group of 5th graders they like better, the "unshushables," or the new, only 3 words spoken at a time 5th graders. Many of the teachers take advantage of this new communication and use it to their benefit, but others can't stand it.

I would reccommend this book for 3rd grade and up. Even as an adult I enjoyed it immensely!

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My first Clements' book, and it was a fun one. 5th grade boys and girls decide to enter a contest in which neither side can speak for two days (with minor exceptions, to permit them to respond to teachers with no more than 3 words at a time). Led by Dave and Lindsay, the "unshushables" learn a lot

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in the process, including how to better communicate with each other. A quick listen (since this was an audio book) and well worth the time!

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Clements may not be the great wordsmiths of our times, but his stories really speak to kids. The premises are basic, easy and enjoyable. I think this classroom-centered book would be a winner for most kids, given the positive message and straight-forward execution.

Great book about the whole fifth grade having a no talking contest between the boys and girls. Certainly, the teachers are surprised and must figure out how to deal with this normally rowdy group being so quiet in class.

The fifth grade boys challenged the girls to a contest. Who can go without talking for two days--boys or girls. The rules were set and the contest was on. Right away the teachers begin to suspect that the kids are up to something. Who will win? And how will the teachers react.

What a great book this would be to read to a talkative class! The 5th graders have always been a little out of control with their nonstop talking. But then the boys challenge the girls to see who can go through their day without talking. It is hard and the teachers have different reactions, but in

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the end the entire school is a little more thoughtful.

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No Talking by Andrew Clements is a quick and fun book to read! Lynsey and Dave are classmates in the fifth grade. In fact, along with many others in their class they have been attending Laketon Elementary together since they were all in kindergarten! Early on their class earned the nickname

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"Unshushables" from their teachers because they could not be quieted. Not only that, the girls and bo

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A no-talking contest between boys and girls raises some interesting ideas, like how a school administration might react to a silent strike and how silence can calm the soul.

When Dave Packer does research for a book report he finds out about a man who stayed silent for one day each week for many years so he could keep order in his mind. Dave thought that he would try to stayed silent for at least one day, but when he gets to school he makes a bet against the girls at

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lunch. The bet was that the students in fifth grade at Lakeland Elementary school had to stay silent for one day. Also that the boys could do a better job than the girls at being silent. So know these students are in a contest of no talking.
I liked this book a lot, I thought it was a great story. Not only was the the story good, but so were the pictures. I thought that the not talking for one day was a very good plot for a story and the author found the perfect way to make this plot into an amazing story. This book was interesting and fun to read. I really enjoyed reading this book and I think that it would be a great book to read again sometime when I have nothing else to do.

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Loving this author! I love the power he gives the children in his book to make changes to their environment without disrespecting authority. I love that in each of the books that we, Julia and I, have read, he is using the power of language/communication to make change. Great book to have ready

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with my 7 year old!

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I read this one with my fifth-grade son. We love Andrew Clements, and this one didn't disappoint. What happens when a very chatty fifth-grade class stops talking? As the boys and girls compete to say the fewest words, the teachers are perplexed and then angry, but students and teachers alike end up

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learning a lot about communication. Clements has an uncanny way of accurately capturing the dynamics between students and teachers. This doesn't beat our favorite Clements' book, Frindle, but it is worth a read.

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The fifth grade class is so noisy they're known as the unshushables. But, after studying about Gandhi, Dave tries to keep silent for a whole day. He isn't successful because he can't help ridiculing the girls' conversations. suddenly, it's the boys against the girls in a contest of no talking. Can

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the teachers deal with this new development? It turns out that they, too, learn something from this surprising experiment.

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Andrew Clements writes another great book that makes students think about their actions and the power of words. In No Talking, 5th grade students learn that Ghandi went one day every week without talking, the students begin to try them same thing. Eventually, an outburst leads to a challenge

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between boys and girls to see who can measure up to the challenge. This leads to the students thinking about the power of words. I think this is a great book because it can be a great source for a group discussion to check comprehension and to get students thinking about the power of their words. This book could also tie into any character education lesson as well.

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The fifth graders at Laketon Elementary School like to talk. In fact, they talk so much that their teachers have dubbed their class "The Unshushables". But lately, Dave Packer has been doing some thinking about talking. He decides to see if he can go a whole day without talking and he very nearly

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succeeds. What stops him? In the cafeteria, he overhears Lynsey Burgess talking on and on about a sweater she'd wanted to buy. Before he can stop himself, he's insulting her, and soon after that he's challenging her and all the other girls in their class to a contest. Boys vs. girls: who can say the fewest words in the next 48 hours?

Another hit from Andrew Clements. He takes an interesting situation, puts it in the hands of some very smart kid characters, adds a few bumbling grownups who eventually see the error of their ways, and wraps it all up with great humor. Highly recommended.

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"The Unshushables" are the non-stop, talking 24/7 fifth graders in Dave Packer's class. After reading about Mahatma Ghandi and his ritual of not talking one day a week to clear his mind, Dave, a member of the unshushables, decides to give this practice a try. When he has an encounter with a

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classmate, Lynsey, a fellow chatterbox, the boys and girls of Laketon Elementary are drawn into a silent battle of boys vs. girls for 48 silent hours. The boys and girls can only speak to answer questions at school and even then, can only answer in 3 words. These short answers and overall silence cause teachers and administrators to look at how the kids are really acting and try to figure out what's really going on. The book allows the reader to think how we communicate and why as we see the 5th graders go through their silent battle. A very enjoyable read recommended for the early YA set.

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I read this at the suggestion of one of my library paras, because one of the grade levels at this school is one of those groups that is made up of lovely individual kids who are unruly as a group, and every grade level they go through is left reeling. In No Talking it is the fifth grade, named the

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Unshushables by school staff. A report about India and Gandhi inspires a boy to try to go a whole day without speaking. An ugly confrontation with a bitter rival (and a dratted girl) leads to a contest: no talking for two days, boys vs girls, excepting when spoken to first by a teacher, and then the response may by no more than three words. Students must rely on the honor system for time away from school, and unauthorized takling is penalized per word. The contest has interesting and thought-provoking effects on students and also teachers, who, having spent years trying to get this group to stop talking, now find themselves trying to get them to talk. Very well done.

Curriculum: this would be an excellent literature circle group, with implications about how the actions of a few affect the whole community.

Clements, A. & Elliott, M. (2009). No talking. New York: Aladdin.

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This was another mind bending school story. I want to try what they did just to see what would happen. It was a very satisfying book. I really enjoyed it.

I enjoyed No talking. it was a great book, but thing I didn't like about it was in the begnning, Dave Packer thought highly of boys, and not girls. In the book No Talking by Andrew Clements, the entire 5th grade has a contest to see who can talk less, boys or girls. Dave Packer keeps track of the

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boys and Lynsey Burgess kept track of the girls. The contest was for two days, but of course since they were at school they had to talk. They are only allowed to use three word sentences at a time. The teachers were in a uproar except for one creative teacher thought it was a good opportunity for them. Did the boys win? Did the girls win? Read the book.

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I enjoyed No talking. it was a great book, but thing I didn't like about it was in the begnning, Dave Packer thought highly of boys, and not girls. In the book No Talking by Andrew Clements, the entire 5th grade has a contest to see who can talk less, boys or girls. Dave Packer keeps track of the

Show More

boys and Lynsey Burgess kept track of the girls. The contest was for two days, but of course since they were at school they had to talk. They are only allowed to use three word sentences at a time. The teachers were in a uproar except for one creative teacher thought it was a good opportunity for them. Did the boys win? Did the girls win? Read the book.

Show Less

I enjoyed No talking. it was a great book, but thing I didn't like about it was in the begnning, Dave Packer thought highly of boys, and not girls. In the book No Talking by Andrew Clements, the entire 5th grade has a contest to see who can talk less, boys or girls. Dave Packer keeps track of the

Show More

boys and Lynsey Burgess kept track of the girls. The contest was for two days, but of course since they were at school they had to talk. They are only allowed to use three word sentences at a time. The teachers were in a uproar except for one creative teacher thought it was a good opportunity for them. Did the boys win? Did the girls win? Read the book.

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This is the perfect book for Literature Circles. It’s about a 5th grade class that cannot control their talking. This would be appropriate for 3rd to 5th grade. It would fit perfectly into the realistic fiction category.