A funny, whirlwind romp that embraces the beautiful buzz of a busy brain.
A young Canadian boy’s mind moves at lightning speed, and so does this heartfelt, hilarious tale.
Everyone daydreams, but as Gus’ older sister Ruby says, “Most of us have a big sign over the doorway of our mind: THIS WAY OUT.” Thirteen-year-old Gus has ADHD, and his maze of a brain definitely doesn’t have clearly marked exits. One morning while reading aloud the daily announcements on the school’s loudspeaker, he goes off script in the name of comedy. The secretary, Miss Funn, doesn’t find Gus’ improvisations amusing and instead serves him a two-day suspension. Gus’ adventure begins the moment he walks out of school and gets a call from Ruby, who requests his help moving out of her college dormitory on Vancouver Island. She gives him clear instructions on how to take the ferry and a bus to her school, but of course no journey is quite so linear for Gus. He must deal with his forgetfulness, his wandering thoughts, and even some incredibly realistic hallucinations, all of which lead to a thoughtful conversation with his doctors about the pros and cons of medication. Gus’ breakneck misadventure is both tender and entertaining—an ode to neurodiversity that speaks to the importance of forging one’s own path and serves as a much-needed reminder that all brains are awesome. Gus is white with Macedonian heritage.
A funny, whirlwind romp that embraces the beautiful buzz of a busy brain. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Dec. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781546158332
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.
First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.
Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-8109-9313-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
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SEEN & HEARD
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