A smartly funny and sympathetic story about being different and understanding that there is more than one way to see the world. This new novel from middle grade master Richard Scrimger will reach so many kids who need to see that their brains are a gift.

When in doubt, go your own way.

Augustus Constantine’s brain moves fast, and not necessarily on a straight track. Gus has ADHD, and he’s on medication to help him focus. Sometimes it feels like the best thing about him, and sometimes it lands him in a load of trouble.

When Gus takes morning announcements wildly off script, he hears nothing but laughter from fellow students at Pendrell Elementary. But he has finally pushed Miss Funn (who’s anything but) and Principal Gorby (who’s getting tired of Gus’s endless jokes and unfiltered stream of consciousness) and now he’s going to be suspended for three whole days.

With nothing else to do, Gus takes up his sister’s invitation to take the ferry to meet her at her college. But on the ferry, Gus’s thoughts begin to race. He’s having trouble concentrating and can’t calm down. The ride gets wilder and wilder, and the reader follows along at the speed of Gus’s brain, until it’s hard to tell what’s real from what’s imagined. Can the people who love and know him best show him the way back home?

Fast-paced, funny and deeply sympathetic, At the Speed of Gus is about not always fitting, but figuring out how to find your own way.