No Talking (12 page)

Was it all too perfect? Of course it was. Had Lynsey messed with the score against the boys to make it add up that way? Without a doubt. Would there be a big investigation? Not likely.

Dave kept looking at the notebook. Lynsey's speech was filled with cross-outs and changes. She'd chosen those last words so carefully, making each one count.

He wanted to say, “I owe you, big-time.”

He also wanted to say, “I guess I'm pretty much of an idiot, aren't I?”

And most of all, he wanted to say what she'd already said: “Thanks.”

But Dave and Lynsey just sat there grinning at each other in the noisy cafeteria, and neither of them said a thing.

Not one word.

Andrew Clements
has written more than fifty books for children, including the award–winning, multimillion–copy bestseller
Frindle
. Mr. Clements taught in the public schools near Chicago for seven years before moving east to begin a career in publishing and writing. The parents of four grown children, he and his wife live in Westborough, Massachusetts.

Mark Elliott
is the illustrator of many picture books and novels for young readers, including
No Talking
by Andrew Clements and
Dexter the Tough
by Margaret Peterson Haddix. He lives in New York's Hudson River valley.

OTHER FAVORITES FROM
ANDREW CLEMENTS
,
BESTSELLING AUTHOR WITH OVER 10 MILLION BOOKS IN PRINT!

Visit the author at
AndrewClements.com

Also by Andrew Clements

Dogku

Room One
A Million Dots
Lunch Money
The Last Holiday Concert

The Report Card

A Week in the Woods
The Jacket
The School Story
The Janitor's Boy
The Landry News

Frindle

Big Al

Jake Drake, Bully Buster
Jake Drake, Know-It-All
Jake Drake,Teacher's Pet
Jake Drake, Class Clown
Big Al and Shrimpy

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
· An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division · 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 ·
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· This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. · Copyright © 2007 by Andrew Clements · All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. · S
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OOKS FOR
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EADERS
is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. · Book design by Alicia Mikles · The text for this book is set in Bembo. · Cover illustration copyright © 2007 by Brian Selznick · Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data · Clements,Andrew, 1949- · No talking / Andrew Clements. —1st ed. · p. cm. · Summary:The noisy fifth-grade boys of Laketon Elementary School challenge the equally loud fifth-grade girls to a “no talking” contest. · ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-0983-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) · ISBN-10: 1-4169-0983-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) ·ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-9519-7 (eBook) · [1. Contests—Fiction. 2. Behavior—Fiction. 3. Communication—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction.] I.Title. · PZ7.C59118No 2007 · [Fic]—dc22 · 2006031883