• Age: 12 to 15
• Grade: 6 to 9
• Reading age: 12 to 15

"No one pays much attention to you if you don't have much to say, so there was no way I could have predicted what would happen when I stopped talking altogether."

When his teacher announces that it's time for the yearly class speeches, Griffin Maxwell starts to sweat. His past experience with the dreaded speech was humiliating, to say the least, and he just knows there's no way he can go through that again. So Griffin's best friend, Bryan, comes up with a solution -- one that's so simple it just has to work. But neither boy can begin to predict the bizarre chain of events that will be set in place when Griffin goes along with the idea.

From squaring off with the school bully to reading a teacher's private letters, Griffin Maxwell wil have to face things he never imagined, and all without saying a word!

Valerie Sherrard first decided to become an author when she was in grade six! Her homeroom teacher that year, Mr. Alf Lower, praised and encouraged her efforts and instilled in her a lifelong belief in her ability to write. After producing about a dozen books for teens, Sherrard turned her hand to picture books. There’s a COW Under My Bed! introduces Oscar Ollie Brown, who will be embarking on his second adventure in There’s a Goldfish in my Shoe! in the fall of 2009. Since becoming a published author, Sherrard has enjoyed visiting many classrooms and libraries to speak to young people about writing, literacy, and most of all, finding and following your dreams. Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Valerie has spent time in a number of provinces, including her current home of New Brunswick. She lives in Miramichi with her husband Brent and their four cats: Lilly, Thragg, Patootie and Cody.

Valerie Sherrard's profile page

• Short-listed, Snow Willow Award
• Short-listed, Ann Connor Brimer Award
• Commended, Best Books for Kids and Teens

Speechless

Noted mystery writer Valerie Sherrard has taken a break from her regular genre in her latest novel Speechless, yet readers will still find a plot full of twists and turns, one that packs an emotional punch.

Remembering the disaster of his Grade 7 speech, Grade 8 student Griffin Maxwell is desperate to get out of his upcoming public speaking assignment. His friend Bryan comes up with the idea of taking a vow of silence. The idea appeals to Griffin but they agree that, to be convincing, the vow must be a protest about something, so the two boys troll the Internet and decide on the issue of child soldiers.

It sounds simple, but things get complicated very fast. Not only is Griffin drawn into a showdown with the school bully and handed a 1,000 word essay to replace the speech, but he starts finding other complications — an uncomfortable feeling that he is a fraud; a growing sense of honour that demands he take his cause seriously; a surprising ability to really listen to people now that he isn’t talking; and a realization that he has got himself into much more than he bargained for.

Like Griffin, the book itself starts off in a lighthearted tone and promises to be a funny story of Grade 8 problems. With Griffin, the reader is drawn through a range of more complex emotions and, while there are laughs right up to the end, there are many surprises and even a few tears. Telling the story in the first person, Sherrard deftly mixes realistic family dynamics (Griffin is the third child of four and the only boy); the painful details of the child soldier horror; and just the right amount of humour to tell a gripping and important story.

Speechless

After his teacher announces that it’s time for the yearly class speeches, Griffin starts to sweat — he hates public speaking. When Griffin concocts a plan to get out of doing his speech by taking a bogus vow of silence for a real cause, he soon starts to truly want to make a difference in the world.