At the Speed of Gus

A tween embarks on a hijinks-fueled quest to meet up with his older sister in this frenetic novel by Scrimger (Your Story Matters). According to his doctor, 13-year-old Gus’s brain works differently from those of others; it moves quickly “but doesn’t brake or steer well.” His beloved 19-year-old sister Ruby and his classmates think his tendency to lose focus and daydream (“Your mind is a maze, and you get lost in there”) is funny, but it frustrates his mother and the other adults in his life. After Gus goes off-script while reading the morning announcements at school—despite disciplinary warnings from his principal—his subsequent two-day suspension prompts Ruby to enlist his help in packing up her college dorm room. Throughout Gus’s journey to the nearby university, which necessitates taking a ferry and two buses, the white-cued protagonist’s rapid-fire stream-of-consciousness narration details his experiencing surreal, sometimes frightening encounters both literal and imagined, as when a scene during which Gus presumably falls off a yacht is revealed to have only happened in his mind. Though the cause behind Gus’s fast-moving brain and occasional hallucinatory episodes remains unexplored—brief text addresses it as “an attention deficit”—the youth’s energetic persona suggests a satisfied self-assuredness. Ages 8–12. Agent: Hilary McMahon, WCA. (Dec.)