Kids into books: Blabber Mouth

Blabber Mouth

Author: Morris Gleitzman

Publisher: MacMillan, $12.95

THE girl next to me was still having trouble with my letter. She had her ruler under the word 'sincerely' and was frowning at it.

I found my pen, leaned over, crossed out 'Yours sincerely' and wrote 'No bull'. She looked at it for a moment, then grinned at me.

'Rowena Batts,' said Darryn Peck. 'What sort of a name is Batts? Do you fly around at night and suck people's blood?'

Hardly anyone laughed and I didn't blame them. I've had better insults from kids with permanent brain damage.

I thought about asking him what sort of a name Peck was, and did he get sore knees from eating with the chooks, but then I remembered nobody there would be able to understand my hand movements, and the trouble with writing insults is it takes years.

'My parents'd go for a kind like you,' said Darryn, even louder. 'They're always saying they wish I'd lose my voice.'

Nobody laughed.

Darryn could see he was losing his audience.

Why didn't I treat that as a victory and ignore him and swap addresses with the slow reader next to me?

Because I'm not just mute, I'm dumb.

'Your parents must be really pleased you're a freak,' brayed Darryn. 'Or are they freaks too and haven't noticed?'
(continued on P5 of Blabber Mouth)

*Next week's book: Animorphs: The Illusion by K. A. Applegate