Blabbermouth

Quite a title when the main character cannot speak. This is not, at first glance, a story sensitising us to the needs of those with speech problems, yet that's what it does. It's a hysterically funny tale about a girl who can 'talk' with fingers, chalk or pen as well as the rest of her class can speak. Concerned about her Dad's tractor driving and his terrible dress sense, she gets him out of trouble time and time again. I felt uncomfortable with her father's sudden burst into Country and Western singing, but so did she. Perhaps on Australian apple farms these things happen? PH