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Blabber Mouth #3
Gift of the Gab
I scribbled angrily in my notebook, ripped the page out and held it in front of his face. 'You killed my mother,' it said, 'and I've got the sausages to prove it.' It starts off as a normal week for Rowena. A car full of stewed apples. A police cell. A desperate struggle to keep Dad off national TV. Then her world turns upside-down. And suddenly Ro's battling French policemen, high explosives and very unusual sausages to discover painful and joyous secrets that change her life forever.
182 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 1999
9 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Morris Gleitzman
100 books980 followersMorris began his writing career as a screenwriter, and wrote his first children's novel in 1985. His brilliantly comic style has endeared him to children and adults alike, and he is now one of Australia's most successful authors, both internationally and at home. He was born in England in 1953 and emigrated to Australia in 1969 so he could escape from school and become a Very Famous Writer.
Before realising that dream, he had a colourful career as paperboy, bottle-shop shelf-stacker, department store Santa Claus, frozen chicken defroster, fashion-design assistant and sugar-mill employee. In between he managed to gain a degree in Professional Writing at the Canberra College of Advanced Education. Later he became sole writer for three award-winning and top-rating seasons with the TV comedy series The Norman Gunston Show.
Morris wrote a number of feature film and telemovie screenplays, including The Other Facts of Life and Second Childhood, both produced by The Australian Children's Television Foundation. The Other Facts of Life won an AWGIE Award for the Best Original Children's Film Script.
He also wrote live stage material for people such as Rolf Harris, Pamela Stephenson and the Governor General of Australia. Morris is well known to many people through his semi-autobiographical columns in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald magazine, Good Weekend, which he wrote for nine years.
But the majority of Morris' accolades are for his hugely popular children's books. One of his most successful books for young people is Two Weeks with the Queen, an international bestseller which was also adapted into a play by Mary Morris. The play had many successful seasons in Australia and was then produced at the National Theatre in London in 1995 directed by Alan Ayckbourn, and also in South Africa, Canada, Japan and the USA.
All his other books have been shortlisted for or have won numerous children's book prizes. These include The Other Facts of Life, Second Childhood, Misery Guts, Worry Warts, Puppy Fat, Blabber Mouth, Sticky Beak, Belly Flop, Water Wings, Bumface, Gift Of The Gab, Toad Rage, Wicked! and Deadly!, two six-part novels written in collaboration with Paul Jennings, Adults Only, Toad Heaven, Boy Overboard, Teacher's Pet, Toad Away, Girl Underground, Worm Story, Once, Aristotle's Nostril, Doubting Thomas, Give Peas A Chance, Then, Toad Surprise, Grace, Now, Too Small To Fail, and his latest book, Pizza Cake. Morris' children's books have been published in the UK, the USA, Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia and Czechoslovakia, Russia and China.
Before realising that dream, he had a colourful career as paperboy, bottle-shop shelf-stacker, department store Santa Claus, frozen chicken defroster, fashion-design assistant and sugar-mill employee. In between he managed to gain a degree in Professional Writing at the Canberra College of Advanced Education. Later he became sole writer for three award-winning and top-rating seasons with the TV comedy series The Norman Gunston Show.
Morris wrote a number of feature film and telemovie screenplays, including The Other Facts of Life and Second Childhood, both produced by The Australian Children's Television Foundation. The Other Facts of Life won an AWGIE Award for the Best Original Children's Film Script.
He also wrote live stage material for people such as Rolf Harris, Pamela Stephenson and the Governor General of Australia. Morris is well known to many people through his semi-autobiographical columns in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald magazine, Good Weekend, which he wrote for nine years.
But the majority of Morris' accolades are for his hugely popular children's books. One of his most successful books for young people is Two Weeks with the Queen, an international bestseller which was also adapted into a play by Mary Morris. The play had many successful seasons in Australia and was then produced at the National Theatre in London in 1995 directed by Alan Ayckbourn, and also in South Africa, Canada, Japan and the USA.
All his other books have been shortlisted for or have won numerous children's book prizes. These include The Other Facts of Life, Second Childhood, Misery Guts, Worry Warts, Puppy Fat, Blabber Mouth, Sticky Beak, Belly Flop, Water Wings, Bumface, Gift Of The Gab, Toad Rage, Wicked! and Deadly!, two six-part novels written in collaboration with Paul Jennings, Adults Only, Toad Heaven, Boy Overboard, Teacher's Pet, Toad Away, Girl Underground, Worm Story, Once, Aristotle's Nostril, Doubting Thomas, Give Peas A Chance, Then, Toad Surprise, Grace, Now, Too Small To Fail, and his latest book, Pizza Cake. Morris' children's books have been published in the UK, the USA, Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia and Czechoslovakia, Russia and China.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 28, 2022
Gift of the Gab is the 3rd and final book in the Blabber Mouth series.
My favourite of the three.
Gift of the Gab is not as light-hearted as Morris Gleitzman’s first two books, he switches it up a bit and presents the reader with a super intense tale which I thought was perfect as it fits right in to the progressing storyline of Rowena and her struggle of her mother’s death.
Moving and tear-jerky.
Highly recommend listening to all three books as Mary-Anne Fahey’s narration is second to none.
My favourite of the three.
Gift of the Gab is not as light-hearted as Morris Gleitzman’s first two books, he switches it up a bit and presents the reader with a super intense tale which I thought was perfect as it fits right in to the progressing storyline of Rowena and her struggle of her mother’s death.
Moving and tear-jerky.
Highly recommend listening to all three books as Mary-Anne Fahey’s narration is second to none.
June 6, 2011
This a very humorous book by well-known Australian novelist Morris Gleitzman. It is suitable for 10-14 year olds and focuses on the issues Rowena Batts is having with a local larrikin, her mother's death and her exuberant father. Due to a birth defect Rowena can't speak, however, this doesn't affect her having plenty to say. Her story begins in the local lock-up where she is being detained for filling up a local lout's car with rotten apples and turning the heating on full bore. Her quest to find out more about her mother's death in a hit-and-run accident takes her to France. Here she meets with a wide range of personalities and her determination to seek revenge on the hit-and-run driver leads her into more trouble than she can handle by herself. There is sadness and pure joy in this novel and once you start you really won't be able to put it down. There are two other books about Rowena, Gift of the Gab and Sticky Beak. This is the third and final in the series. Gleitzman has an excellent website where readers can go to his bookshelf and hear the first chapter of the majority of his books.
http://www.morrisgleitzman.com/books/...
http://www.morrisgleitzman.com/books/...
March 25, 2018
3.5 stars. I was almost in tears several times during this book! It's pretty intense, but I really enjoyed the fact that I didn't know exactly how it would end.
More coming on theteacherslibrary.org
More coming on theteacherslibrary.org
December 13, 2012
Salah satu buku anak paling bagus yang pernah saya baca :)
Namanya Rowena Batts, gadis yang jiwanya itu bebas banget. Dia itu pemberontak. Bukan pemberontak dengan konotasi negativf gimana ya, dia itu intinya independen dan pemberani. Contohnya dia itu masukin berkarung-karung apel ke mobil anak cowok jutawan di desanya karena si cowok gak menghargai pas ayahnya mengengang ibunya yang udah meninggal saat dia masi kecil. Terus pas apelnya udah dimasukin ke mobil cowok itu, dia nyalain alat pemanas mobilnya. Kan jadi busuk gitu ya apelnya. Hahaha, lucu banget gak sih.
Kan selama ini ayahnya, Kenny Batts si petani apel yang nyentrik seperti menutup-nutupi penyebab kematian istrinya. Saat ditanya Rowena, dia selalu menjawab “Ibumu menginggal dalam keadaan tentram dan damai”.
Nah, suatu hari akhirnya ketahuan, ibunya itu meninggal korban tabrak lari di Prancis. Lalu Rowena itu punya dendam, pada siapapun yang bertanggung jawab atas kematian ibunya di Prancis. Beruntungnya, dia diizinin ke Prancis bersama Ayahnya sama Ibu Tirinya. Jangan bayangkan ibu tirinya itu jahat. Dia malah baik dan cantik banget. Bahkan ibu tirinya rela ditinggal suami dan anaknya untuk pergi. Itu semata-mata untuk Kenny Batts. Dia dituduh meracik semprotan anti hama yang berbahaya. Rowena mensinyalir itu yang bikin ibunya meninggal dan dia gangguan tenggorokan. Ya, di pertengahan saya baru tau dia itu ternyata bisu, gangguan tenggorokan. Ini salah satu hal yang menyentuh pas say abaca buku ini. Padahal buku ini dari sudut pandang Rowena.
Terus di Prancis banyak banget masalah, mulai dari masalah dia nyari pembunuh ibunya, sosis that looks like a-dog-shit dan bom. No joke, Bom. Sosis perancis yang mirip kotoran anjing dan pengejaran pembunuh ibunya.
Kelihatannya banyak sekali knoflik yang harus dihadapi seorang gadis di negeri orang, dengan misi mengejar pembunuh. Iya, biasanya saya kurang suka tipikal-tipikal novel yang ‘udah jatuh, ketimpa tangga, kejedot terus kepeleset kulit pisang pula’. Novel ini ada unsur sialnya. Tapi tidak berlabihan.
Selain itu yang bikin gua suka banget, novel ini gak ada cinta-cintaannya. Sebatas cinta sama keluarga. Siip. Padahal si Rowena itu 16 taun. Udah akil balig. Tapi tidak. Itu yang bikin keren. Rowena tidak serta merta, tiba-tiba ketemu bule-prancis-ganteng-dan-hot yang bikin dia gak fokus ama misinya. Mungkin karena buku ini pure untuk hiburan anak-anak. Novel yang menarik, menegangkan, sarat akan muatan nilai dan moral dan cukup memorable.
Namanya Rowena Batts, gadis yang jiwanya itu bebas banget. Dia itu pemberontak. Bukan pemberontak dengan konotasi negativf gimana ya, dia itu intinya independen dan pemberani. Contohnya dia itu masukin berkarung-karung apel ke mobil anak cowok jutawan di desanya karena si cowok gak menghargai pas ayahnya mengengang ibunya yang udah meninggal saat dia masi kecil. Terus pas apelnya udah dimasukin ke mobil cowok itu, dia nyalain alat pemanas mobilnya. Kan jadi busuk gitu ya apelnya. Hahaha, lucu banget gak sih.
Kan selama ini ayahnya, Kenny Batts si petani apel yang nyentrik seperti menutup-nutupi penyebab kematian istrinya. Saat ditanya Rowena, dia selalu menjawab “Ibumu menginggal dalam keadaan tentram dan damai”.
Nah, suatu hari akhirnya ketahuan, ibunya itu meninggal korban tabrak lari di Prancis. Lalu Rowena itu punya dendam, pada siapapun yang bertanggung jawab atas kematian ibunya di Prancis. Beruntungnya, dia diizinin ke Prancis bersama Ayahnya sama Ibu Tirinya. Jangan bayangkan ibu tirinya itu jahat. Dia malah baik dan cantik banget. Bahkan ibu tirinya rela ditinggal suami dan anaknya untuk pergi. Itu semata-mata untuk Kenny Batts. Dia dituduh meracik semprotan anti hama yang berbahaya. Rowena mensinyalir itu yang bikin ibunya meninggal dan dia gangguan tenggorokan. Ya, di pertengahan saya baru tau dia itu ternyata bisu, gangguan tenggorokan. Ini salah satu hal yang menyentuh pas say abaca buku ini. Padahal buku ini dari sudut pandang Rowena.
Terus di Prancis banyak banget masalah, mulai dari masalah dia nyari pembunuh ibunya, sosis that looks like a-dog-shit dan bom. No joke, Bom. Sosis perancis yang mirip kotoran anjing dan pengejaran pembunuh ibunya.
Kelihatannya banyak sekali knoflik yang harus dihadapi seorang gadis di negeri orang, dengan misi mengejar pembunuh. Iya, biasanya saya kurang suka tipikal-tipikal novel yang ‘udah jatuh, ketimpa tangga, kejedot terus kepeleset kulit pisang pula’. Novel ini ada unsur sialnya. Tapi tidak berlabihan.
Selain itu yang bikin gua suka banget, novel ini gak ada cinta-cintaannya. Sebatas cinta sama keluarga. Siip. Padahal si Rowena itu 16 taun. Udah akil balig. Tapi tidak. Itu yang bikin keren. Rowena tidak serta merta, tiba-tiba ketemu bule-prancis-ganteng-dan-hot yang bikin dia gak fokus ama misinya. Mungkin karena buku ini pure untuk hiburan anak-anak. Novel yang menarik, menegangkan, sarat akan muatan nilai dan moral dan cukup memorable.
April 30, 2016
I read this book as a kid, and I still enjoy reading it.
This was the first Rowena Batts book that I had read - I didn't know it was a series until later when I noticed in the back of my copy "Sticky Beak" and other novels from the same author, among the adverts for the works of Paul Jennings (another Australian classic).
A lot of people seem to be complaining about the change of tone from the previous books, or just the dark tone of the book in general.
As the first one I read, and as a young child mind you, I had no problems accepting the tone.
I didn't find it dark or problematic - I found it hilarious, shocking (good!), and incredibly touching.
One of the books that has made me cry, and you see the tears well up in others eyes when you reminisce.
I've since sought out and read "Blabber Mouth", another in the Rowena Batts series.
Yes, the tone is a bit lighter and there's less plot. It's quite a different book and probably more appropriate for younger readers. I think that makes this one all the greater, that Morris Gleitzman stretched the limits. It's a wonderful book and should be more appreciated.
This was the first Rowena Batts book that I had read - I didn't know it was a series until later when I noticed in the back of my copy "Sticky Beak" and other novels from the same author, among the adverts for the works of Paul Jennings (another Australian classic).
A lot of people seem to be complaining about the change of tone from the previous books, or just the dark tone of the book in general.
As the first one I read, and as a young child mind you, I had no problems accepting the tone.
I didn't find it dark or problematic - I found it hilarious, shocking (good!), and incredibly touching.
One of the books that has made me cry, and you see the tears well up in others eyes when you reminisce.
I've since sought out and read "Blabber Mouth", another in the Rowena Batts series.
Yes, the tone is a bit lighter and there's less plot. It's quite a different book and probably more appropriate for younger readers. I think that makes this one all the greater, that Morris Gleitzman stretched the limits. It's a wonderful book and should be more appreciated.
December 5, 2009
hwaaaaaaaaa sedih beneeeeer...
padahal udah nahan2 jangan ampe airmata menetes dipipi *kayak lagu2nya dian pisesha yee* tapi akhirnya pada bab2 terakhir gak gagal dengan sukses... pas di angkot lgsg sibuk nyari2 tissue, n diliatin ma orang2 :))
sedih banget pas si ro jatuh di parit ketindihan martir, dan akhirnya tahu kenapa orang2 di prancis pada begitu perhatiannya ma dia... ternyata ************
padahal udah nahan2 jangan ampe airmata menetes dipipi *kayak lagu2nya dian pisesha yee* tapi akhirnya pada bab2 terakhir gak gagal dengan sukses... pas di angkot lgsg sibuk nyari2 tissue, n diliatin ma orang2 :))
sedih banget pas si ro jatuh di parit ketindihan martir, dan akhirnya tahu kenapa orang2 di prancis pada begitu perhatiannya ma dia... ternyata ************
June 14, 2009
Morris Gleitzman was so awesome at age eight, but he gets extremely annoying in a Bryce Courtenay-type way as you get older.
June 15, 2015
The ending of this book is amazing and so shocking! I remember a group of us in school used to pass this round and take turns so we could all read it.
July 8, 2015
Morris Gleitzman was one of my absolute favourite childhood authors - I even got his autograph! His books are light and easy to read and have a comedic value only Andy Griffiths could match.
March 25, 2018
3.5 stars. It wasn't predictable which I really enjoyed!
January 4, 2019
Another childhood favourite
August 27, 2019
I loved this series as a kid.
April 29, 2021
This book was my favourite
March 3, 2025
I STILL don't understand half the Australian slang. XD
September 2, 2009
This book was not anything like I expected.
September 27, 2009
Well it is a exciting book that make you jump off your seat when you read it.
Want to read
March 9, 2013AWESOME
November 19, 2016
Quite entertaining for a young reader.
August 31, 2009
it has a good story line. and well written.
March 29, 2017
3* dan mendekati akhir ceritanya bikin terenyuh, jadi nambah 1*. Jarang2 juga saya baca cerita dari Aussie
May 2, 2017
I never really enjoyed this book as a kid. It was very Australian, but a lot of the humour fell a bit flat for me.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews