This Is Gus

March 30, 2020
Gus the beagle has a permanent scowl, refuses to fetch, and doesn’t want to make friends. Chatterton crafts a running joke of the dog’s implacable dourness with a refrainlike text: “He doesn’t like cake. He doesn’t like balloons. He doesn’t like presents.” Gus seems even less charmed when a cute beagle puppy—who is also revealed to be the narrator—emerges from a wrapped gift. The puppy is convinced it has won Gus over, even though that’s clearly not the case. Will anything make Gus less grumpy? The story’s straightforward revelation that Gus loves sausages and is even capable of sharing one with the puppy is a bit of a letdown after he is established with such an indelible outlook. But the pictures are still great fun: Chatterton distills the images down to a few details, sets his gloomy Gus against bright saturated backgrounds, and assigns him a relatively unchanging expression and profile, regardless of what is going on around him—he doesn’t even budge when a birthday balloon is tied to his tail. Ages 3–5.