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Summary
The Story of Doctor Dolittle By Hugh Lofting Dover Publications Copyright © 2005 Hugh Lofting All right reserved. ISBN: 9780486438832 The First Chapter Puddleby Once upon a time, many years ago-when our grandfathers were little children-there was a doctor; and his name was Dolittle-John Dolittle, M.D. "M.D." means that he was a proper doctor and knew a whole lot. He lived in a little town called Puddle by- on-the-Marsh. All the folks, young and old, knew him well by sight. And whenever he walked down the street in his high hat everyone would say, "There goes the Doctor! He's a clever man." And the dogs and the children would all run up and follow behind him; and even the crows that lived in the church tower would caw and nod their heads. The house he lived in, on the edge of the town, was quite small; but his garden was very large and had a wide lawn and stone seats and weeping willows hanging over. His sister, Sarah Dolittle, was housekeeper for him; but the Doctor looked after the garden himself. He was very fond of animals and kept many kinds of pets. Besides the goldfish in the pond at the bottom of his garden, he had rabbits in the pantry, white mice in his piano, a squirrel in the linen closet, and a hedgehog in the cellar. He had a cow with a calf too, and an old lame horse--twenty-five years of age-and chickens, and pigeons, and two lambs, and many other animals. But his favorite pets were Dab-Dab the duck, Jip the dog, Gub-Gub the baby pig, Polynesia the parrot, and the owl Too-Too. His sister used to grumble about all these animals and said they made the house untidy. And one day when an old lady with rheumatism came to see the Doctor, she sat on the hedgehog, who was sleeping on the sofa, and never came to see him any more, but drove every Saturday all the way to Oxenthorpe, another town ten miles off, to see a different doctor. Then his sister, Sarah Dolittle, came to him and said, "John, how can you expect sick people to come and see you when you keep all these animals in the house? It's a fine doctor would have his parlor full of hedgehogs and mice! That's the fourth personage these animals have driven away. Squire Jenkins and the Parson say they wouldn't come near your house againno matter how sick they are. We are getting poorer every day. If you go on like this, none of the best people will have you for a doctor." "But I like the animals better than the 'best people,"' said the Doctor. "You are ridiculous, said his sister, and walked out of the room. So, as time went on, the Doctor got more and more animals; and the people who came to see him got less and less. Till at last he had no one left-except the Cat's-meat-Man, who didn't mind any kind of animals. But the Cat's-meat-Man wasn't very rich and he only got sick once a year-at Christmastime, when he used to give the Doctor sixpence for a bottle of medicine. Sixpence a year wasn't enough to live on--even in those days, long ago; and if the Doctor hadn't had some money saved up in his money box, no one knows what would have happened. And he kept on getting still more pets; and of course it cost a lot to feed them. And the money he had saved up grew littler and littler. Then he sold his piano, and let the mice live in a bureau drawer. But the money he got for that too began to go, so he sold the brown suit he wore on Sundays and went on becoming poorer and poorer. And now, when he walked down the street in his high hat, people would say to one another, "There goes John Dolittle, M.D.! There was a time when he was the best-known doctor in the West Country. Look at him now--he hasn't any money and his stockings are full of holes!" But the dogs and the cats and the children still ran up and followed him through the town-the same as they had done when he was rich. The Second Chapter Animal Language It happened one day that the Doctor was sitting in his kitchen talking with the Cat's-meat-Man, who had come to see him with a stomachache. "Why don't you give up being a people's doctor, and be an animal doctor?" asked the Cat's-meat-Man. The parrot, Polynesia, was sitting in the window looking out at the rain and singing a sailor song to herself. She stopped singing and started to listen. "You see, Doctor," the Cat's-meat-Man went on, "you know all about animals-much more than what these here vets do. That book you wrote about cats--why, it's wonderful! I can't read or write myself-or maybe I'd write some books. But my wife, Theodosia, she's a scholar, she is. And she read your book to me. Well, it's wonderful--that's all can be said--wonderful. You might have been a cat yourself. You know the way they think. And listen: you can make a lot of money doctoring animals. Do you know that? You see, I'd send all the old women who had sick cats or dogs to you. And if they didn't get sick fast enough, I could put something in the meat I sell 'em to make 'em sick, see?" "Oh, no," said the Doctor quickly. "You mustn't do that. That wouldn't be right." "Ohl, I didn't mean real sick, answered the Cat's meat-Man. "Just a little something to make them droopy-like was what I had reference to. But as you say, maybe it ain't quite fair on the animals. Continues... Excerpted from The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting Copyright © 2005 by Hugh Lofting. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Summary
Foreword by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack. Afterword by Peter Glassman.
When a swallow arrives in Puddleby-on-the-Marsh with the news that the monkeys of Africa are ill and only the doctor who talks with animals can save them, Doctor Dolittle and such good friends as Jip, his loyal dog, and Dab-Dab, his housekeeper duck, face their greatest challenge. Together they must sail to Africa, battle a band of cutthroat pirates, flee across a gorge on a bridge made of acrobatic apes, and convince the king of the beasts that even he must help an animal in need. With nearly fifty full-page pictures from Michael Hague and the McKissacks artful reworking of the dilemma faced by Prince Bumpo, this treasured story is now available in a deluxe edition that all families will want to explore again and again.
Author Notes
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.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Kleinbaum's adaptations, accompanied by Lofting's illustrations from the original editions, bring the classic books to younger readers. Ages 6-9. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Introduction by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack. Afterword by Peter Glassman. Prince Bumpo wants to be a 'lion' in this newest clean-up of 'Doctor Dolittle', a decision explained--if not explored--by the McKissacks in their introduction. Otherwise, most is the same. Hague's line drawings and dark-toned paintings have all the old-fashioned allure enjoyed by his many fans. From HORN BOOK 1997, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 3-6. Out of print since the early 1970s, these classic children's books have been edited to remove racially offensive passages and illustrations. Story, first published in 1920, was the first title in the series and is considered by many to be the best. Voyages won the 1923 Newbery Medal. Textual changes are minimal, but salutary. While a few of the illustrations have been cropped or deleted, the publishers have added other drawings by Lofting that were not used in the original editions. Libraries will welcome the opportunity to replace battered, rebound copies, flawed with objectionable references and stereotypes, with these bright, new volumes retaining all the essential charm, wit, and humanity of the originals. CP.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-The story of Doctor Doolittle's adventures and his eventual return home with the miraculous animal who joined the family. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.