No Talking by Andrew Clements

REALISTIC FICTION
-chapter book

This novel is about a boy named Dave that comes up with this crazy idea to try to practice what Ghandi did, and not talk for a long period of time and see how it makes him think. When he makes a comment to a girl Lynsey and says that "there's no way girls could do this, because they talk all the time," Lynsey gets mad and decides this should become a competition between the boys and girls at this school. All boys and girls agree to be on the honor system while at home and keep track of how many words they accidentally say.  Lynsey and Dave decide to change the rules to say that students can respond to teachers' questions so they won't make them stop the competition. The only exception is that you are only allowed to answer the teacher's questions with three words at a time. The contest had begun. Girls reported to Dave when they admitted to saying inappropriate words, and the boys did the same to Lynsey. Teachers and administrators started to notice something was up, because the noisiest group of fifth-graders just had silent lunch without being told to do so. Teachers started getting angry that students wouldn't explain their answers in depth; they could barely explain them at all.  When the music teacher figured out their mischief agreement, she agreed to let the students hum in place of singing that day. After 2 days of barely any talking, the students were able to take time for themselves and just think.  They learned to plan 3 words that would answer the question and still be understandable.  The principal talked to Dave and understood the benefits from doing this. She agreed to play along for a few days but knew this would not be the effective way to learn the whole year long. At the end, Lynsey had the final count of words said for boys and girl so she purposely blurted out the exact amount to tie the boys and girls right before the competition was officially over. Neither gender won, and the students got to challenge their thinking while showing that boys and girls can work together instead of against each other.


This is from the same author as The Report Card and because of it they have many similarities. Therefore, I would probably use this book as a read-aloud as well.  We will list the pros and cons of attempting to do such an activity at school or at home.  Afterwords, I will give the students a venn diagram with two circles for them to complete similarities and differences amongst these two books.  Students should list how the roles of the librarian in The Report Card and the principal in this book are the same. They should describe how students rebel in each, and any of the various other parts of the stories that compare or contrast.