No Talking

At lunch, Dave urges his friends to participate in the contest. He tells them to contact any fifth-grade boy who’s absent and let them know the rules. Some of the boys express doubts; Dave shows them how they can communicate by smiling, nodding, shaking their heads, frowning, and writing. He also gets them to practice the three-word rule. With only fifteen minutes left at lunch to notify the other fifth graders of the contest, the boys notice that the girls already are spreading the news and get to work.

Chapter 7 examines how children learn about rules at school. Kids master some easy rules of good behavior early on: “no fighting, no bullying, no shoving, no spitting, no biting, no stealing, no vandalism, no cutting in line, no snowball throwing” (32). Rules against acting up on the school bus or chewing gum or eating candy are harder. There are no specific rules about conversation, and the Laketon fifth graders love talking so much that their teachers call them the “Unshushables.”

Abigail Hiatt is Laketon’s efficient, demanding principal who likes to keep her school orderly. The fifth-grade class has refused to obey rules about being quiet since the first grade. Most of the teachers have given up trying to quiet them, but Mrs.