Dr. Tomato & The Beetle is a Japanese Children's Picture Book by Tsurumi Masao, with illustrations by Takahashi Toru. It's a sequel to Taro And Jiro The Sibling Locomotives.
Spring has come to Japan, and Taro and Jiro are busy preparing their line for the season's traffic. However, the other day, Dr. Tomato has informed the station master that he'll be driving his car into the mountain villages for the rest of the year. Taro and Jiro are made sad over this, as it means he won't be riding on their trains anymore.
One day, Dr. Tomato and his nurse drive to a school in a mountain village, and park his car, a VW Beetle
, outside a school. Two kids then tell him of a medical emergency, and bring him to their home, where their horse is lying in agony. Since Dr. Tomato is a people doctor, he can't treat the horse, but makes arrangements to have the horse taken into the city to be treated by a veterinarian. The Dr.'s Beetle takes this as a chance to shine.
The book was published on September 1st, 1976.
Dr. Tomato & The Beetle contains examples of:
- An Aesop: The book sends a message about how both roadways and railways can coexist when they're used to the best of their ability.
- Black Dot Eyes: Like Taro and Jiro in the previous book, Beetle has black dot eyes in place of his headlights.
- A Day in the Limelight: The book focuses on Dr. Tomato and his car, Beetle.
- Out of Focus: Taro and Jiro aren't as prevalent in this book as the previous one, its plot being about Dr. Tomato and his car after all.
- Sentient Vehicle: Taro and Jiro, the sibling locomotives, are in this book. But the main focus is on Beetle, Dr. Tomato's car.
