GUS AND GRANDPA RIDE THE TRAIN

In another affectionate look at Gus and Grandpa (1997), the pair exhibit their mutual passion for trains. Every time Gus visits Grandpa, he listens for the train that will soon pass the house, going outside in time to wave as it rambles by. One day he is so involved in the sight that he forgets to close the gate; Skipper, Grandpa's dog, gets out, but comes back before he is hurt. That's only the beginning of three stories about forgetting and remembering: In the second one, Gus and Grandpa search for an old toy train, but shut Skipper in the shed by accident, and in the third, Grandpa almost ruins a real train trip when he ""loses"" the tickets, carefully tucked into his hatband. The stories and art have a deceptive simplicity missing from the first book, and carry understated messages of love and sharing between a boy and his kindly grandfather; as Mills makes clear, they may be a bit forgetful, but they never forget that they love each other.