Fifth-grader Dave Packer is determined to try silence one day a week since studying Mahatma Gandhi in Social Studies class. Dave and classmate Lynsey end up starting a no-talking contest between the boys and the girls. The rules include no talking for forty-eight hours other than answering direct questions from an adult in three word sentences or less. Teachers become suspicious of the unexpected quiet behavior since this group has been notoriously coined “The Unhushables” for their constant chattering. The principal demands students return to their normal behavior. The students in fifth grade have a common enemy, the principal. Readers see that words, or the lack thereof, are power in this amusing, natural-flowing story.
