Speechless

Connor is sure his best friend, Branwell, couldn''t have hurt Branwell''s baby half sister, Nikki. But Nikki lies in a coma, and Branwell is in a juvenile behavioral center, suspected of a horrible crime and unable to utter the words to tell what really happened. Connor is the only one who might be able to break through Branwell''s wall of silence. But how can he prove Branwell didn''t commit the unspeakable act of which he''s accused -- when Branwell can''t speak for himself?

Elaine Lobl Konigsburg, noted children's writer and illustrator, was born February 10, 1930 in New York City. The second of three daughters, she was reared in small Pennsylvania towns . She attended Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon University) and received a BS in 1952. She was the first member of her family to go to college and, unaware of her talent for writing, she majored in chemistry, doing graduate study at the University of Pittsburgh. Her best-known titles include A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver, which was an American Library Association Notable Children's Book and National Book Award nominee, 1974; The Second Mrs. Giaconda and Father's Arcane Daughter (both ALA Best Book for young adults); and Throwing Shadows (ALA Notable Children's Book and American Book Award nomination, 1980). She won the Newbery Honor in 1968 for Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth and the Newbery Medal in 1968 and the William Allen White Award in 1970 for From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. She won the Newbery Medal again in 1997 for The View from Saturday From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was adapted as a motion picture starring Ingrid Bergman in 1973 and later released as The Hideaways in 1974. It became a television film starring Lauren Bacall in 1995. Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth was adapted for television as Jennifer and Me for NBC-TV in 1973. Konigsburg married David Konigsburg in 1952 and they had three children, Paul, Laurie, and Ross. She began writing when her youngest child started school.

After he’s suspected of causing a severe injury to his baby half-sister, Nikki, Branwell suddenly loses his ability to speak. Branwell’s best friend Connor is sure Branwell wouldn’t have hurt Nikki, but how can he prove it when Branwell can’t speak for himself?