The Story of Doctor Dolittle

Hugh Lofting

Jan 2017 · First Avenue Editions ™

About this ebook

Dr. John Dolittle has always understood animals better than people. And when his parrot, Polynesia, teaches him the language of the animals, he really understands them. Dolittle opens up a veterinary practice in the quiet English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh and devotes his life to helping his furry, scaly, and feathered friends. His household menagerie includes Chee-Chee the monkey, Gub-Gub the baby pig, and Jip the dog. Together, the Doctor and his animal companions travel to the wilds of Africa to cure an epidemic that is plaguing the monkeys. There they meet African royalty, find actual canaries among the Canary Islands, and discover the legendary pushmi-pullyu. First published in 1920, this is an unabridged version of British author Hugh Lofting's fantastical adventure for animal lovers, which he both wrote and illustrated.

About the author

Hugh Lofting was born in 1866 in Maidenhead, England. He trained as a civil engineer, getting his education from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Polytechnic Institute of London. He worked in Africa, the West Indies and Canada and then settled in New York to become a writer. The stories about Doctor Dolittle began as letters to his children while overseas in England during World War I, where Lofting served with the British Army. The first Doctor Dolittle book published was "The Story of Doctor Dolittle" in 1920. He wrote thirteen more, winning the Newberry Medal in 1923 for "The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle." Lofting illustrated all of the Dolittle books himself. In 1967, the Doctor Dolittle books were made into a musical film starring Rex Harrison. Hugh Lofting died in 1947 at the age of 81.