Gift of the gab - Morris Gleitzman

Rowena Batts has never been able to speak and now there's a suggestion that this is due to her mother's exposure to harmful chemicals whilst pregnant - chemicals her father used on his crops. Rowena and her dad escape from Australia to France to avoid the media. Rowena discovers that her mother died in a road accident in France and is determined to find the person who killed her. Rowena's life is turned upside down, but her fiesty character and love for her dad help her to cope. A story
packedwith humour as well as serious issues.

Morris Gleitzman was born in Lincolnshire and moved to Australia in his teens. He worked as a paperboy, a shelf-stacker, a frozen chicken de-froster, an assistant to a fashion designer and more before taking a degree in Professional Writing at Canberra College and becoming a writer. He has written for TV, stage, newspapers and magazines but is best-known for his hugely succesful children's books including Two Weeks with the Queen, Bumface and Once.