GUS'S GARAGE

Animal drivers in wacky vehicles visit the titular garage for special repairs.

Clever Gus, a smiling pig on two legs in green coveralls, salvages lots of unusual objects, just in case. When Rico, a biker rhinoceros, putt-putts in on his scooter complaining about his inadequate seat, Gus has just the thing. He replaces it with a big green easy chair, and Rico putt-putts happily away. Next, Gina the giraffe pulls up in a compact yellow car, colorful scarves covering her long neck. She needs “warm air.” Gus comes up with a stack of oil barrels, with a hole cut out for her head, heated by a stove connected to the barrels by several pipes. Walter the walrus, in a small blue-and-white car with an open sunroof, has the opposite problem. He’s too hot. Gus fixes a tub atop the car, where Walter can cool off. Timmers’ perspective is unvarying, depicting Gus and his garage to the left of the gutter and his customers on the right. This allows readers to notice that the huge heap of junk at the far left grows smaller over the course of the day as Gus raids his stash of “bits and bobs” to make the repairs with Rube Goldberg–esque flair. The repetitive, rhyming text appears below, its refrain “This goes with that. There. Just the job!” one children will be joining in on before long.

Supersaturated hues and maximum automotive whimsy make this one to pore over.