Chester and Gus

January 30, 2017
Chester can’t talk; Gus can, sometimes, but it’s hard for him. Can they communicate and trust each other? Chester is a chocolate lab, and Gus is a fifth grader with autism whose family hopes he’ll be more interactive at school with Chester around. Chester may not have passed his service test (he’s skittish around loud noises), but he’s smart enough to know what “his person” needs, and he does a fine and believable job narrating this book. Always attentive to Gus, the boy’s ever-hopeful parents, and the kids and adults at school, Chester shows Gus’s struggle to convey his desires and be more independent. Chester has some similar difficulties, and McGovern (Just My Luck) emphasizes his eagerness and empathy, as well as his limitations: although Chester’s trainer convinces herself that the dog can read, Chester knows that’s silly. Meanwhile, readers can debate how literally to take the idea that Chester does find a way to talk—at least to those who are willing to listen. Whatever they decide, they’ll be charmed by Chester’s warmth and loyalty. Ages 8–12. Agent: Margaret Riley, William Morris Endeavor.

February 15, 2017
After his fear of loud noises causes him to fail his service dog training, Chester, a supersmart chocolate Lab, becomes a support dog to Gus, a white 10-year-old boy with nonverbal autism. Chester's relationship with his trainer, who's unprofessionally obsessed with teaching him to read, forecasts the book's central heartache: "I loved her so much, but I don't think that's enough for people to understand what you're trying to say." While narrating his own canine views on family and loneliness, Chester also interprets Gus' often misunderstood behaviors. McGovern frequently parallels boy and dog as both struggle to be understood by those they love, and communication becomes paramount when Chester senses a frightening change in Gus and Gus falls victim to a bully. Gus' gradual, subtle interactions with his classmates ring true and sympathetic. However, Chester and Gus also "think-talk" to each other (and possibly to a motherly Jamaican woman) via telepathy, a device that cheapens their bond as much as it forges it. Though telepathy provides convenient access to Gus' thoughts, interests, and feelings, it also perpetuates tired extrasensory tropes and implies that empathizing with autistic people requires a quasi-magical gift. The ostensibly happy resolution to a plot contrivance requires Gus' misfortune, creating more dissonance than satisfaction. A bittersweet, vexing glimpse of a less-portrayed point on the autism spectrum. (Fiction. 9-13)

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