The protagonist of this short novel is Dave Packer, a 5th grade boy. This book is centered around a bet that Dave makes with Lynsey, a girl in his class, about whether boys or girls talk more. The notoriously talkative group decides to have a competition about who can say the least words over 48 hours. They make specific rules about when you can and cannot talk, and decide that it is acceptable only to speak to teachers, and only when you are spoken to, and only in three word phrases. This makes for a very interesting couple of days for his elementary school. This book is a pretty easy read, but brings up some interesting ideas, including peaceful protest and Ghandi, the value of different kids and amounts of communications, and how the way you react to something (like the principal) can make all of the difference. Considering the simplicity of the style of writing, the characters were fairly well-rounded, and humor and thought provoking parts were balanced well. This would make a great read-aloud and would probably be most interesting to students in grades 3-5, but some middle school students would be interested as well.

There are a few pencil illustrations that really capture the scene and add to the humor, such as the illustration of the principal spitting into her bullhorn at lunch. The fact that a lot of the dialogue is written in 3-word chunks, in accordance with the contest, but still illustrations the point of the speaker well, makes for an interesting spin on dialogue.

Again, this would make a great read-aloud in an intermediate classroom. It could serve as a good springboard for conversation about getting along and working together, as the boys and girls eventually do come to peace, as does the protagonist and the principal who initially banned the lack of speaking.

While this book would appear to most students, I think some reluctant boy readers would enjoy the humor in these books specifically. However, it is definitely not a gender-specific book.