No Talking

Title: No Talking
Author: Andrew Clements
Major Themes: School, Language
Synopsis: When Dave challenged Lynsey to stop talking for a day, he didn’t expect the entire class to join them—for two days!

Last year, I listened to several of Andrew Clements’ books while I worked in the garden or the kitchen. I have enjoyed his books ever since I discovered them nearly 20 years ago when a couple of them were assigned readings in my daughter’s school curriculum. One that I listened to last year was No Talking. I enjoyed this story of a contest between boys and girls in a school, and then I enjoyed reading it aloud when one of my children requested it last month. I was surprised today when my 4-year-old mentioned it—she apparently enjoyed it, too! 

Publisher’s description:

My thoughts:

I liked the idea of this story. No Talking is mainly the story of Dave and what he learned about himself and others by not talking for a couple of days, but it is also the story of the whole class and how they learned to work together instead of competing with each other all the time. I appreciated that they were all quite respectful of the adults in their lives and worked out ways to cooperate with their parents and teachers. And, of course, I loved the surprising twist at the end—a trademark of Andrew Clements’ stories!

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Trapped in the Tunnel The Happy Hollisters series The Boxcar Children Home on the Rock Pile