The Story Of Doctor Dolittle (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
I am and always have been a huge fan of old movies. As a kid I was shown the Doctor Dolittle movie starring Rex Harrison and fell in love with the story of a man who could talk to animals. It's been years since I saw the movie and decided to read the first book in the series. Besides The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Hugh Lofting wrote eleven other books in this children's series.Dr. John Doolittle is a respected physician with a love of animals, who eventually loses his human patients due to the increasing amounts of animals that live with him. He lives with his sister in the English town of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. One day he learns that he can speak to his animals when he begins to understand his parrot, Polynesia. He then takes up veterinary practice, and his fame spreads among the animals as a doctor who can talk to and understand them. He is eventually persuaded to travel to Africa to cure a monkey epidemic, but on the way is shipwrecked and captured by the king of Jolligingki. He barely escapes with his life, as the king is a victim of European colonization and hates any Europeans. Doolittle and his animal companions eventually make it to the land of the monkey epidemic, where he is able to cure and vaccinate all the monkeys. In appreciation for his services, the monkeys give Doolittle a rare gazelle-unicorn cross called a pushmi-pullyu. On the way back to England, Doolittle is again captured by the king of Jolligingki, but escapes with the help of a prince named Prince Bumpo. Eventually, Doolittle makes it back to England and tours with the pushmi-pullyu in a circus until he makes enough money to retire back to Puddleby.Surprisingly I really wasn't a fan of the book. I think it was because of the racism that was clearly evident in the writing and illustrations. The racial terms used to refer to black people and the monkey-like illustrations really hindered any type of pleasure I might have found in the novel. While young children reading the novel may not understand the offensiveness in the words and images, it still isn't something I'd want them learning if I was a parent.The one thing that I did enjoy about the book was the relationship that Doctor Dolittle had with his animals. It was heartwarming to see how much Dolittle cared about the animals. He was willing to go hungry, lose his house, and his family all for his love of the animals.The idea behind Doctor Dolittle and all the creatures and everything is a creative one, but there was just something about the book that didn't work for me. Maybe I was reading it at the wrong age? For those parents out there , show your kids the Rex Harrison film version if you want to introduce them to Doctor Dolittle, skip these books.Kimberly (Reflections of a Book Addict)http://lifeand100books.wordpress.com/...
This is a lovely little story book ideal for reading to younger children. Enticing adventure awaits in each chapter. Often times it is the quick thinking intelligence of the animals that get Dr. Dolittle out of tight places. The "be kind to your fellow man and beast" pretty much bashes you upside the head.This is an interesting twist on the anthropomorphized animal theme so prevalent in children's literature. We are privy to the ideas and conversations between the animals (much like you see with the characters in Watership Down,though by no means does this book lend itself to the type of character development you see in that novel) rather than the traditional"dress-up" games popular in other children's books featuring animals.The animals act as animals but we get to learn their inner thoughts as Dr. Dolittle can of course speak to the animals.(Remember your stuffed animals used to talk to you as you played as a small child and all of them had a name you had given them? And you could never ever have too many stuffed animals in your room, there was always room for one more! Every child can relate to this trait in Dr. Dolittle.)So why a 3*?. This anniversary edition (1988) contains an afterword by Christopher Lofting, the author's son. In it he explains and rationalizes changes that have been made to the original manuscript so as to not offend any ethnic minorities. Even drawings were removed from the original and previously unprinted illustrations were added to compensate. I personally believe that current works should reflect the "Political Correctness" of our times, but to erase the stereotypes so prevalent in decades or centuries gone by from classic literature, regardless as to whether you think the author would now be agreeable to such changes, means that future generations will be ignorant of what once was. This, in my mind, is censorship. That was such a disappointment after reading the story.Hopefully I will be able to find earlier editions of the subsequent books in the series, but as they are not easily found I will continue to look for any edition.All in all though a delightful story with very engaging illustrations.
What do You think about The Story Of Doctor Dolittle (2005)?
As a lifelong animal lover, I'm surprised I never read this book. I think I saw the movie when I was very young but I don't remember it. At any rate, I really enjoyed it. Before reading, I thought the animals learned to speak human, and didn't realize it was the other way around. Dr. Dolittle is a sweet protagonist, and I enjoyed the various animals as well as the element of adventure. I started out listening to this on an audio I downloaded from the library, then switched to a my print edition so I could enjoy the beautiful illustrations by Michael Hague.The odd thing is that the two versions differed. I've seen reviews noting the racism in the original story--written in 1920. Apparently both editions I read were revised for a modern audience in different ways. I would have preferred reading the original text, but I can see that as a novel intended for children who would be too young to understand historical context that it makes sense to revise. This edition has a note at the end explaining the revision.
—Christina
If the only version of "Dr Dolittle" you know is Eddie Murphy's you don't know Dr Dolittle. Even if you've see the Rex Harrison musical, if you haven't read the book, you don't know Dr Dolittle.Small, tubby and shy, Dr Dolittle is a brilliant doctor whose love of animals loses him his human patients. But after his parrot Polynesia teaches him to speak animal languages,the Doctor becomes famous in the animal world, and travels across the world and even to the moon!In this first book, the Doctor and his pets sail to Africa to save the kingdom of monkeys from a plague. Be warned, there is an African prince who is depicted as childlike and wants nothing more than to be a white man. And yes, other Dolittle books feature more childlike Africans to whom the Doctor gets to teach "civilized" ways. Yes, it's offensive. But my politically-correct-before-it-was-hip-to-be-politically-correct mom read these to me back in the (gulp)60s and I loved them and somehow didn't grow up to be a bigot. Take them in context, or (if you must)hunt for the "revised" editions that removed some of the offensive stuff. Or start with another of my favorites in the series Doctor Dolittle's Circus
—The Library Lady
Dr. Doolittle is lazy. That surprised me, because I had remembered liking this book when I was much younger. Okay, so he is just foolish and laid back. He has hundreds of pets, doesn't worry about money, and waits for people to need his help. Somehow his parrot taught him, like, every animal language in the space of a few months.Good book, just not spectacular. It was actually kind of dull. The only interesting thing in it were talking animals. There were too many of them, however, and Doolittle's character went undeveloped.
—Denae Christine
