Reviews for Just Gus

“More testimonial than memoir, Laurie Williams tells the story of her sister Stephanie who, diagnosed with breast cancer at 30, adopts a mixed-breed stray and names him Gus. At just 80 pages (many of them given over to full-color photos by Roslyn Banish), the book is slight but packs and emotional wallop.”
—Robert Rodl, Chicago Tribune

. . .

“Just Gus is a slim volume that looks like a children’s book. The story of how Stephanie saved Gus is told in simple, unsentimental language and illustrated with handsome photographs. We see a scrawny tan mutt gaining strength and delighting his owner day by day. She names him for the cowboy on TV’s Lonesome Dove who just wants a second chance. It is certainly a book one could read to a child, perhaps especially to a child in a family considering adopting a shelter dog. It is also a book that should help adults understand the important work of saving abandoned dogs—important for the dogs, and important for us.”
ߨ—Edward G. Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania

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“It’s not every author who can say her first book was moving enough to make Howard Stern cry. But Laurie Williams earned those bragging rights with a book she wrote about her older sister, Stephanie Williams, and how a dog named Gus encouraged Stephanie as she battled aggressive cancer.”
—Mary Openshaw, The Facts, Brazoria County, Texas

. . .

“It is surely a sign of our ethical progress that the weakest and least valued members of our world—animals—are making headway. My wish is that all who read the story of Stephanie and Gus will be moved to rescue a dog, help out at a shelter, or make a donation.”
—Jean Donaldson, Director of The San Francisco SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers
Author of Culture Clash, MINE! and Fight!