No Talking is a children's novel

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 written by Andrew Clements

Andrew Clements

Andrew Clements is an American author of children's books. Clements grew up in Camden, New Jersey and Springfield, Illinois, United States,. As a child, he enjoyed summers at a lakeside cabin in Maine where he spent his days swimming and fishing and his evenings reading books...

. It is about the noisy fifth grade

Fifth grade

Fifth grade is a year of education in the United States and many other nations. The fifth grade is the fifth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 10 – 11 years old, and are preteens...

 boys of Laketon Elementary School

Elementary school

An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...

 who challenge the equally loud fifth grade girls to a "no talking" contest. The book won the 2010 California Young Reader Medal

California Young Reader Medal

The California Young Reader Medal is an award given annually to books nominated and voted on by children in California. The medal was established in 1974 and encourages recreational reading...

. Main themes are related to Gandhi's practice of maintaining silence one day a week, accommodations made in school for an especially loud and talkative 5th grade group of students, gender dynamics (in elementary school), and the civil disobedience those students find themselves practicing when their "right to remain silent" is questioned by the school's teachers and administration.