Gloomy Gus was a Kodiak, one of the biggest bears in the world. Young Eric Strong had found him as an orphaned cub and raised him with the help of an old prospector, Ten-Day Watson. Gus became quite a tourist attraction in the small town of Tatouche, Alaska. Then Henry D. Marcel arrived.

Marcel ran a circus in Oregon and wanted Gus as "the only tame Kodiak in the world." Suddenly Eric's father was full of interest in Gloomy Gus. Eric protested loudly that Gus couldn't leave the north—not for a circus cage. But Marcel talked big and Eric's father listened.

Walt Morey, whose Gentle Ben won the Dutton Junior Animal Book Award and was made into a motion picture and a television series, has now created another colorful, heartwarming story of a generous boy and an extraordinary bear.

From the dust jacket